PATRIOTISM 
AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION 


HOW  THE  NEW  EDUCATION  ACT 
WORKS 

"A  widow  told  the  magistrate  at  Thames  Police  Court 
to-day  that  she  had  been  summoned  before  the  Educa- 
tion Committee,  who  told  her  that  her  son,  aged 
fourteen,  who  was  at  work,  would,  under  the  new 
Education  Act,  have  to  go  back  to  school.  'I  think 
this  is  very  hard,'  said  the  woman,  'as  I  have  only 
another  girl  earning  a  little,  and  I  cannot  work  myself, 
as  my  sight  is  failing/  She  added  that  when  she  told 
the  Education  Committee  that  she  had  no  means  of 
support,  they  told  her  to  go  to  the  Guardians." 

Pall  Mall  Gazette,  15  March  1919. 

THE  boy  will  be  forced  back  to  school,  to  learn  against 
his  will,  things  that  will  probably  be  useless  to  him  in 
his  daily  work;  his  employers  will  be  inconvenienced, 
and  the  widow  will  be  pushed  into  the  workhouse. 
There  must  be  thousands  of  cases  similar  to  this,  in- 
volving extra  cost  to  the  State  for  the  provision  of 
teachers,  extra  cost  to  the  ratepayers  for  education  and 
poor  law  relief,  and  extra  trouble  for  the  Guardians 
and  Education  Committee. — And  all  to  keep  willing 
hands  from  useful  work,  when  so  much  of  it  is  crying 
out  to  be  done.  The  wasteful  mischief  of  it! 

HENEY  ABTHUR  JONES,  17  March  1919. 


PATRIOTISM 


AND 

POPULAR    EDUCATION 

WITH    SOME    THOUGHTS    UPON 

ENGLISH  WORK   AND   ENGLISH  PLAY,  OUR   EVENING    AMUSE- 
MENTS,   SHAKESPEARE    AND    THE    CONDITION    OF   OUR    THE- 
ATRES,  SLANG,  CHILDREN  ON  THE  STAGE,  THE  TRAINING  OF 
ACTORS,    ENGLISH    POLITICS,    BEFORE     THE    WAR,    NATIONAL 
TRAINING    FOR    NATIONAL    DEFENCE,  WAR    AND    DESIGN    IN 
NATURE,    THE    LEAGUE    OF    NATIONS,    THE    FUTURE    WORLD 
POLICY  OF  AMERICA,  CAPITAL  AND    LABOUR,    RELIGION,   RE- 
CONSTRUCTION, THE  GREAT  COMMANDMENTS,  SOCIAL  PROPH- 
ETS AND  SOCIAL  PROPHECY,  COMPETITION  AND  CO-OPERATION, 
THE    BIOLOGIST    AND   THE    SOCIAL   REFORMER,   HAND 
LABOUR  AND  BRAIN  LABOUR,  SCHOOL  TEACHERS 
AND  RAG-PICKERS,  INTERNATIONALISM,  AND 
MANY  OTHER  INTERESTING  MATTERS 

THE  WHOLE  DISCOURSE  BEING  IN  THE  FORM  OF  A  LETTER 

ADDRESSED   TO 

THE  RIGHT  HON.  H.  A.  L.  FISHER 

PBESIDEHT  QV  THE  BRITISH  BOABO  OF  EDUCATIOH 

BY 

HENRY  ARTHUR  JONES 


"Doth  not  wisdom  cry?    And  understanding  put 

forth  her  Voice?" — PBOVEBBS,  chap,  viii,  verse  1. 


NEW  YORK 
E.  P.  BUTTON  &  COMPANY 

681  FIFTH  AVENUE 


COPYRIGHT,  1920, 
BY  E.  P.  DUTTON  &  COMPANY 

All  RigJOs  Reserved 


Printed  In  the  United  State*  of  America 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST 
ENGLISH  EDITION 

THESE  hot  discursive  thoughts  were  thrown  upon 
paper  during  the  ten  months  that  followed  the 
British  retreat  to  the  outskirts  of  Amiens.  They  take 
their  general  complexion  from  the  events  of  that  tre- 
mendous time,  and  reflect  its  fluctuating  hopes  and 
fears,  its  anxieties  and  agitations  and  suspenses,  from 
the  dark  hours  of  April  to  the  magic  reversal  of  our 
fortunes  in  July,  onwards  to  the  present  hour  when, 
having  defeated  the  Germans,  we  seem  to  be  preparing 
to  defeat  ourselves. 

No  book  has  ever  grown  more  strangely.  Starting 
to  write  a  letter  to  the  papers  upon  the  edict  that  pre- 
vents children  from  appearing  on  our  stage,  I  found  it 
would  be  too  long  for  their  restricted  space.  On  con- 
sidering the  matter,  I  saw  it  was  involved  with  our 
whole  system  of  Popular  Education.  I  therefore  ad- 
dressed myself  to  the  Minister  of  Education,  and  the 
first  two  chapters  of  the  book  were  in  his  hands  before 
he  passed  the  recent  Education  Act. 

Meantime  it  had  daily  become  more  and  more  evident 
that  the  question  of  National  Education  was  of  small 
moment  in  comparison  with  the  question  of  National 
Existence.  As  the  vast  panorama  displayed  its  suc- 
cession of  bewildering  scenes,  it  caught  me  into  its 
whirl.  I  was  taken  by  that  irresistible  impulse  which, 
when  great  events  are  happening,  moves  us  to  run  out  of 

y 


O 


vi      Preface  to  the  First  English  Edition 

doors  and  talk  them  over  with  our  neighbours.  I  let 
my  thoughts  carry  my  pen  wheresoever  they  would. 
Hence  the  want  of  unity,  and  perhaps  of  consistency, 
which  may  be  found  in  these  pages. 

Eut  I  aimed  not  at  unity  or  consistency,  but  only  at 
a  searching  inquiry  into  the  meaning  of  these  stupendous 
happenings,  and  a  faithful  interpretation  of  them.  Such 
unity  and  consistency  as  come  from  the  single  desire  to 
speak  the  exact  truth  about  all  the  matters  I  have 
touched — this  unity  and  this  consistency,  I  am  sure  I 
have  attained. 

I  have  given  considerable  space  and  attention  to  the 
affairs  of  the  drama.  But  in  presence  of  the  illimitable 
tragedy  that  has  been  acted  on  the  world's  stage  during 
the  last  few  years,  the  English  theatre  has  shrunk  to 
the  size  and  office  of  a  silly  toy;  nor  at  present  has  it 
any  other  meaning,  or  pretensions,  or  ambitions.  I  was 
therefore  glad  to  escape  for  a  while  to  a  platform  whence 
a  man  may  hail  his  fellow  men  with  some  hope  of  ob- 
taining an  intelligent  hearing  for  intelligible  speech. 
There  can  be  no  revival  of  English  drama  except  as  part 
of  a  national  revival  and  a  general  awakening  to  our 
national  duties  and  responsibilities.  Of  what  use  is  it 
to  nurse  a  sickly  orchid  in  a  hot-house,  while  all  the 
field  and  garden  of  our  national  life  is  choked  with 
weeds  and  rank  confused  growths  ?  Conversely,  of  .what 
use  is  it  to  hope  for  a  national  awakening  to  the  realities 
and  responsibilities  of  life,  while  the  bulk  of  our  popula- 
tion feed  all  their  leisure  with  the  grossest  unrealities 
and  trivialities  ?  A  nation  may  be  sound  and  vigorous 
without  developing  any  great  school  of  national  drama. 
But  a  foolish,  degraded  form  of  national  drama  is  a 
symptom  of  moral  and  intellectual  debasement. 

Those    who    regard    the    great    commandments    as 


Preface  to  the  First  English  Edition     vii 

obsolete  conventions  will  call  the  book  reactionary.  Its 
general  tendency  is  against  the  present  swing  of  popular 
thought.  Therefore  I  cannot  hope  for  any  wide  ac- 
ceptance of  its  doctrines.  Let  them  stand  or  fall  as 
the  future  shall  determine.  I  hold  no  brief  for  my 
opinions,  except  as  facts  shall  confirm  them. 

However  brokenly  or  mistakenly  I  have  written,  no 
Englishman  has  ever  addressed  his  countrymen  under 
the  weight  and  shadow  of  greater  events,  or  upon  mat- 
ters of  more  supreme  importance.  Involved  as  we  are 
in  still  gathering  national  perplexities  and  obscurities, 

I  may  be  excused  for  lighting  up  my  little  lantern,  if 
haply  we  can  discern  where  we  are  and  whither  we  may 
be  wandering. 

HENEY  AETHUB  JONES. 

II  February  1919. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND 
ENGLISH  EDITION 

IT  will  be  remembered,  that  when  the  word  of  the  Lord 
came  to  Jonah,  to  cry  against  the  Ninevites,  the 
prophet  at  first  declined  the  mission,  and  escaped  to 
sea.  Jonah  was  doubtless  well  aware  that  prophets  who 
proclaim  unpleasant  truths  to  a  nation  run  some  danger 
of  being  stoned.  However,  three  days'  solitary  confine- 
ment in  the  belly  of  a  whale  served  to  convince  him 
that  Heavenly  warnings  must  be  delivered,  even  at  some 
personal  risk. 

When  at  length  he  addressed  himself  to  his  task,  he 
seems  to  have  fulminated  against  the  Ninevites  with 
undue  vehemence  and  fervour.  In  definitely  announc- 
ing the  overthrow  of  their  city  in  forty  days,  he  clearly 
went  beyond  his  instructions.  Still,  he  succeeded  in 
thoroughly  alarming  the  Ninevites,  and  thus  saved  them 
from  destruction. 

The  question  arises,  whether,  if  Jonah  had  not  spread 
a  panic  of  conviction  that  their  ruin  was  imminent, 
overwhelming,  irrevocable — the  question  arises,  whether 
anything  short  of  this  conviction  would  have  roused  the 
Ninevites  to  take  the  urgent  and  stringent  measures 
which  alone  averted  the  impending  calamity. 

Jonah  was  certainly  in  a  dilemma.  If  he  had  not 
magnified  the  danger  to  the  Ninevites,  undoubtedly  it 
would  have  fallen  upon  them,  and  they  would  have 
perished.  By  magnifying  the  danger,  and  persuading 

ix 


x     Preface  to  the  Second  English  Edition 

them  of  its  reality,  lie  stirred  them  to  repentance,  and 
saved  the  city.  But  at  the  cost  of  proving  himself  a 
false  prophet. 

The  issue,  although  it  was  most  satisfactory  to  the 
Ninevites,  was  a  vexatious  anti-climax  for  Jonah.  He 
was  naturally  angry  at  being  left  in  the  lurch,  and  went 
and  sulked  under  a  gourd.  He  would  have  done  better 
to  put  a  bright  face  on  the  matter,  and  heartily  to  con- 
gratulate the  Ninevites  on  their  lucky  and  undeserved 
escape.  To  save  his  credit  as  a  prophet,  he  might  also 
have  impressed  upon  them  a  strong  reminder,  that  they 
were  only  spared  by  the  intervention  of  a  Special  Provi- 
dence. He  might  further  have  added,  that  it  is  not 
prudent  for  nations  who  are  threatened  with  wide  social 
disaster  to  trust  that  Providence  will  reverse  the  econ- 
omy of  the  universe  in  their  favour. 

The  Ninevites  are  now  past  being  preached  at,  and 
equally  past  being  prophesied  about.  Let  us  turn  to 
ourselves.  Six  months  have  gone  by  since  the  nrst 
edition  of  this  book  appeared.  The  intervening  course 
of  events  does  not  advise  me  to  retract,  or  revise,  what 
I  wrote  during  the  stress  and  uncertainties  of  last  year. 
Rather,  as  the  wheel  comes  to  its  full  circle,  I  am  urged 
to  a  more  insistent  affirmation  and  repetition  of  what  is 
set  down  in  these  pages.  No  review  of  the  book  that  I 
have  seen  has  made  any  attempt  to  controvert  the  facts 
and  arguments  I  have  brought  forward,  or  to  disprove 
the  conclusions  I  have  drawn  from  them.  They  remain 
unsilenced,  unrefuted.  Till  they  are  discredited  and 
overthrown,  they  issue  a  standing  challenge  to  our  pres- 
ent system  of  Popular  Education,  to  the  confusions  and 
fallacies  of  political  thought  that  it  fosters,  and  to  the 
social  disorder  that  it  encourages.  Let  my  arguments 
and  conclusions  be  examined.  If  they  are  unsound  and 


Preface  to  the  Second  English  Edition    xi 

false,  I  am  the  first  to  wish  that  they  may  fall  to  the 
ground. 

Eighty-five  per  cent,  of  our  population  have  to  earn 
their  living  by  manual  labour  before  the  social  machine 
will  work.  We  are  educating  about  eighty-five  per 
cent,  of  them  in  such  a  way  that  they  will  hate  and 
avoid  manual  labour.  Inevitably,  that  million  of  houses 
does  not  get  built.  Inevitably,  it  is  the  workers  who 
will  suffer  first,  and  suffer  most,  and  suffer  longest. 
For  two  generations  we  have  been  busily  teaching  our 
masses  what  they  are  only  very  remotely  concerned  to 
know,  and  have  neglected  to  teach  them,  nay,  have  for- 
bidden them  to  learn,  what  they  are  imperatively  con- 
cerned to  do  and  make.  We  have  made  manual  labour 
ridiculous  and  repulsive  to  them.  There  is  not  a  home 
or  a  farm,  or  a  shop,  or  an  office,  or  a  factory  in  the 
Kingdom  that  does  not  suffer  delay  and  obstruction  in 
consequence. 

However,  I  need  not  strain  my  voice  to  enforce  what 
is  day  by  day  more  loudly  proclaimed  by  the  clamour 
of  events.  The  catch  words  and  catch  phrases  of  the 
war — "making  the  world  safe  for  democracy,"  "self- 
determination/'  "a  brotherhood  of  nations,"  and  the 
like — are  proving  themselves  to  be  no  sterling  coins  of 
thought,  valid  at  the  counter  of  fact,  but  the  worthless 
forgeries  of  bankrupt  idealists,  not  negotiable  any- 
where. Even  before  it  is  constituted,  the  League  of 
Nations  begins  to  jeer  at  its  promoters.  What  else  could 
they  expect  ?  The  first  ominous  result  of  the  attempt 
to  govern  the  world  by  a  League  of  Nations,  has  been 
to  weaken  that  good  understanding  between  England 
and  America  which  is  the  only  assurance  of  the  world's 
peace.  Is  not  this  a  sufficient  warning  of  the  mischief- 
breeding  tendency  of  a  League  of  Nations  ?  Surely  the 


xii   Preface  to  the  Second  English  Edition 

statesmen  of  the  world  have  contentious  matters  enough 
on  their  hands  without  multiplying  complications  and 
possible  causes  of  quarrel  in  a  future  whose  con- 
tingencies and  demands  not  one  of  them  can  foresee 
or  guess  at. 

America  has  rejected  the  League  of  Nations,  rightly 
judging  that  no  country  should  pledge  itself  to  deal  with 
successive  threatening  international  situations  by  in- 
volved, amiable,  abstract  rulers;  rightly  judging  that 
no  threatening  international  situation  can  be  wisely 
dealt  with  until  it  has  actually  arisen;  and  until  it  is 
so  far  developed  and  denned  that  each  country  may  take 
that  course  which  its  honour  and  its  permanent  interests 
mark  out  for  it  at  that  precise  moment. 

America  has  rejected  the  League  of  Nations.  Will 
not  the  statesmen  of  England  and  France  and  Italy  ac- 
cept that  verdict  ?  Will  they  not  forsake  this  perilous 
whimsy,  own  that  they  have  made  a  mistake  and,  ceas- 
ing to  fumble  about  with  international  misunderstand- 
ings that  may  threaten  the  world  in  fifty  years'  time, 
turn  to  the  urgent  necessities  that  beset  their  own  coun- 
tries at  the  present  hour  ? 

Above  all  our  confusions,  clear  cut  against  the  sky, 
plain  for  all  of  us  to  read,  stand  the  two  opposing  sign- 
posts, the  one  directing  all  our  national  aims  and  hopes 
and  activities  towards  Internationalism,  the  other  di- 
recting all  our  national  aims  and  hopes  and  activities 
towards  Patriotism.  The  time  shortens.  O  England, 
which  road  will  you  take  ? 

EEfrRY  AETHUK  JONES. 
20  November  1919. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACB  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION  (February  1919)       ...  v 

PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION  (November  1919)   ...  ix 
OPENING     ADDRESS     TO     THE     MINISTER     OF     EDUCATION 

(March  1918) xxi 

Cicero  and  the  Omelette xxii 

CHAPTER  I 
(March— April  1918) 

POPULAR  EDUCATION  AS  IT  REVEALS  ITSELF  IN  OUR  WORK: 

My  old  Carpenter 1 

"Artistic,  sixpence  three  farthings" 2 

A  well-educated  working  man 3 

Dame  Nature  a  harsher  "exploiter"  than  the  Capitalist      .  5 

Working  men  cheat  their  brother  working  men    ....  6 
Not  a  question  of  Capital  and  Labour,  but  of  honesty  or 

dishonesty 7 

A  call  for  the  Parsons 0 

Proposal  to  ship  some  of  them  to  Kikuyu 9 

Robinson  Crusoe  and  Friday's  neglected  education  ...  11 
Friday's  deplorable  ignorance  of  matters  that  did  not  con- 
cern him 11 

Consequent  economic  stability  of  the  Island 13 

Friday's  capacity  for  abstract  thought      ....'..  13 

General  education  often  the  enemy  of  good  craftsmanship  17 
Monstrous  and  ridiculous  proposal  to  drill  our  boys  for  the 

future  defence  of  their  country 18 

Equally  monstrous  and  ridiculous  proposal  to  teach  our  girls 

what  will  be  useful  to  them  as  wives  and  mothers   .      .  23 
Enlargement  of  dictum  of  the  Minister  of  Education  con- 
cerning general  education 24 

CHAPTER  II 
(April— May  1918) 

POPULAR  EDUCATION  AS  IT  REVEALS  ITSELF  IN  OUR  PLAT: 
The  Secondary  Education  of  our  masses  at  picture  palaces 

and  popular  theatres 26 

Its  effect  upon  conduct  and  character 27 

xiii 


xiv  Table  of  Contents 

PAQB 

Gradual  disappearance  of  Shakespeare  from  our  stage    .     .  29 
Dull  imbecility  and  licentiousness  of  our  popular  entertain- 
ments            .....  33 

The  wisdom  of  good  tomfoolery 33 

Hideous  exhibition  of  chorus  girls 35 

Popular  Education  and  the  quality  of  our  stage  dialogue     .  36 

"I  suppose  you  mean  to  infer  that  I'm  hot  stuff"     ...  38 

Slang  and  its  functions 40 

German  and  French  criticism  of  the  English  stage    ...  43 

The  orgy  at  the  beginning  of  the  war         44 

The  bishops  get  fidgety 45 

Rosy  Twaddle,  Holy  Twaddle,  and  Revue 47 

Advice  to  bishops  and  clergymen  about  to  advertise  plays  .  47 

Actors,  actresses,  scullery  maids,  and  dung-cart  emptiers     .  50 

Children  on  our  stage 53 

Discouragement  of  Shakespeare  by  new  Education  Act       .  53 

Virtual  prohibition  of  five  of  his  most  popular  plays       .      .  53 

Our  greatest  actresses  educated  on  and  by  the  Stage      .  53 

Early  training  necessary  to  make  good  actors  and  carpenters  56 

French  middle  classes  sound  and  acute  critics  of  plays  .     .  58 

Children  with  a  native  talent  for  the  stage 60 

Child  supernumeraries 63 

Many  of  them  better  in  the  theatre  than  at  home     ...  63 
Evils  and  abuses  of  the  stage  caused  and  multiplied  by 

zealous,  ignorant  bigots 64 

Invitation  to  them  to  abstain  from  pecking  and  kicking  at 

the  theatre 64 

Connexion  between  Popular  Education  and  present  degrada- 
tion of  our  stage 66 

Elizabethan  audiences 67 

Their  ability  to  understand  and  enjoy  Shakespeare  ...  68 

Shakespeare's  true  home  the  English  theatre        ....  70 
Appeal  to  Minister  of  Education  to  aid  in  getting  him  back 

there         71 


CHAPTER  III 
(May— June  1918) 

POPULAR  EDUCATION  AND  POLITICS  BEFORE  THE  WAR: 

Political  Dogma  and  Religious  Dogma      ......  73 

Impossibility  of  drawing  up  indisputable  codes  for  children  74 

General  education  a  very  devious  compass 74 

National  Defence  of  transcendent  importance  from  1890     .  75 
Popular  Education  opposed  to  teaching  future  citizens  their 

chief  duty 76 


Table  of  Contents  xv 


Consequent  immeasurable  cost  to  the  nation        ....  77 

Lack  of  vision  and  guidance       .........  78 

The  unreturning  wheel  of  fate   .........  79 

Germans  teach  us  what  Popular  Education  failed  to  teach  us  81 

Blindness  of  our  politicians  traced  to  Popular  Education     .  85 

The  housemaid's  excuse  —  "It  shan't  happen  again"       .     .  87 

Where  lay  the  fault?        ...........  88 

Intellectual  dishonesty  the  worst  of  mental  ailments       .      .  90 

Endemic  at  Westminster      ..........  90 

Boy  Scouts'  movement  more  beneficial  than  school  teaching  91 

Intractability  of  "young  persons"  ........  92 

Cicero  and  Euclid  the  safest  companions  for  them    ...  92 

Economic  benefit  of  continuation  classes  ......  93 

Rosy  estimate  of  its  amount      .........  94 

Not  one  hundredth  of  the  national  loss  caused  by  neglect  of 

Popular  Education  to  teach  our  boys  their  first  duty    .  95 

CHAPTER  IV 
(July—  August  1918' 

A  LEAGUE  OP  NATIONS: 

Legislating  for  the  Millennium  .........  97 

The  prophet  Micah  beats  swords  into  ploughshares  ...  98 
The  prophet  Joel  counters  the  prophet  Micah,  and  beats 

ploughshares  into  swords    .........  98 

War  and  Design  in  Nature  ..........  98 

An  automatic  peace-machine     .........  100 

The  philanthropist  in  Laputa  and  his  safety  dustbin      .     .  101 

Man  will  never  divine  the  strategy  of  Nature       ....  103 

Possible  material  profit  from  war    ........  105 

Greater  certainty  of  spiritual  profit      .......  105 

Difficulties  of  constitution  of  League    .......  107 

The  master  fact  for  our  statesmen  to  remember  ....  107 

Germany's  future  attitude  towards  Britain     .....  108 

Do  we  not  know  this  nation?     .........  110 

The  League  of  Nations  a  fruitful  field  for  German  intrigue  113 

The  servant  girl  and  the  fair  young  man  ......  115 

League  of  Nations  a  futility  or  a  danger    ......  116 

Improbability  of  all  the  Nations  being  wise  for  all  the  time  118 

Dark  anarchic  forces  gathering  on  the  horizon     ....  118 

Governing  the  world  by  a  committee   .......  119 

The  war  after  the  war     ...........  120 

Victories  of  peace  compared  with  victories  of  war      .     .     .  120 

English  and  American  commercial  practices   .....  122 

A  League  of  Nations,  sooner  or  later,  causes  war       .     .     .  126 

Approaching  ground  swell  after  this  tempest  .....  128 


xvi  Table  of  Contents 

PAQB 

Balancing  alternations  of  peace  and  war  through  all  history  129 

This  law  would  be  operative  under  class  government      .      .  129 

A  soldier  always  the  final  custodian  of  peace  .....  130 

By  recognizing  this  we  avoid  or  shorten  war        ....  130 

Immediate  and  remote  dangers  of  a  League  of  Nations        .  131 

Hecate  and  false  security      ..........  132 

War  and  the  dark  backward  and  abysm  of  Time       .     .     .  133 

War  and  the  dark  forward  and  abysm  of  Time    ....  134 

Canute  and  the  framers  of  a  League  of  Nations  ....  135 

American  delay  in  entering  the  war      .......  136 

American  mothers  and  the  war  trumpets  of  Europe  .     .     .  136 

America's  unique  and  fortunate  position         .....  137 

Speculation  on  the  future  of  American  civilization  and  policy  139 
The  Eternal  will  not  consider  our  suggestions  for  a  new 

world-civilization      ...........  141 

Our  future  civilization  —  the  artist  will  be  murdered  by  the 

mechanic        .............  142 

Four  possible  states  of  world  civilization  ......  143 

The  earth  littered  with  combustible  matter    .....  145 

The  two  signposts  ............  148 

CHAPTER  V 

(September  —  October  —  November  1918) 

PATRIOTISM  AND  INTERNATIONALISM: 

Apology  to  Minister  of  Education  for  continuing  to  address 

him      ...............  150 

The  neglected  Hampstead  missionary  .......  151 

Aims  of  Internationalism  before  the  war   ......  154 

No  danger  of  War      ......      ......  155 

The  good  Scheidemann  would  prevent  it  ......  156 

The  great  illusionist  ............  157 

The  meddling  old  warrior     ..........  157 

Our  sagacious  Internuncio    ..........  159 

Crash!    The  war  comes        ..........  159 

What  shall  we  do  with  our  opinions  now?       .....  160 

Socialists'  forecasts  falsified       .........  163 

They  forsake  their  comrades  and  their  whimsies  to  defend 

their  country     ............  163 

atriotism,  a  compulsive  universal  instinct     .....  165 

Compared  with  the  sexual,  maternal  and  religious  instincts  165 
Patriotism  of  constructive  value  in  the  evolution  of  the 

human  race    .............  167 

Competition  and  co-operation     .........  167 

Faults  of  Patriotism  the  inverse  side  of  its  virtues     .     .     .  168 

Persistence  of  Irish  Patriotism  .                      .....  170 


-lf-<  p 

.XC 

V^    P 


Table  of  Contents  xvii 

PAOB 

Consequences  of  Separation  from  Great  Britain  ....  169 

Every  form  of  Home  Rule  unworkable 170 

Federal  Parliaments  the  only  solution 171 

Goethe  says  the  final  word  on  Ireland  in  1829      ....  171 

Kathleen,  sister  Kathleen ! 172 

Incipient  Patriotism  at  East  and  West  Gawkham     .     .     .  175 

Engrafted  Patriotism 176 

"Reconstruction,"  a  misleading  term        178 

Nations  cannot  be  "reconstructed" 178 

Internationalists  ignore  this 179 

The  Parable  of  the  old  township  and  Mr.  Fervent  Im- 

possibilist 180 

The  general  aim  and  design  of  Internationalists  and  Social- 
ists   188 

Internationalism  will  not  lead  to  Peace 189 

Who  are  the  real  enemies  of  the  working  classes  of  each 

nation? 194 

Internationalism  strikes  athwart  all  social  structure  .      .     .  194 

Internationalists  and  Bolshevism 196 

Mr.  H.  G.  Wells  gets  a  grip  on  Bolshevism  and  interprets  it 

to  us 197 

Mr.  Wells  gets  a  grip  on  the  situation  in  Russia  ....  197 

Mr.  Wells  gets  a  grip  on  the  situation  in  Africa  ....  199 

Mr.  Wells,  like  Sangrado,  has  a  panacea 199 

Mr.  Wells  allows  the  British  flag  to  wave,  and  sometimes 

to  flap 201 

Examination  of  Mr.  Wells's  African  constitution       .     .     .  202 

Mr.  Wells  threatens  the  Solomon  Islands 204 

Mr.  Wells  prophesies  delightfully  about  machines     .     .      .  205 

Goes  on  to  prophesy  about  mankind 205 

Defence  of  Mr.  Wells's  reputation  against  Mr.  Archibald 

Spofforth        205 

Mr.  Wells  and  Old  Moore 206 

Gorgeous  symbolism  in  prophecy 206 

Scarlet  Ladies  of  Babylon  and  seven-headed  beasts  .     .     .  206 

The  sacred  jig-saw  puzzle 207 

Common  defects  and  fallacies  of  International  schemes       .  208 

Alternations  of  commercial  conflict  and  actual  war  .      .     .  209 

Commercial  conflict  perhaps  the  more  deadly      ....  209 

Our  interest  in  sustaining  the  British  Empire       ....  210 

Our  Foreign  Office  "bunglers  and  bluffers" 210 

Where  are  the  perfectly  wise  statesmen  to  work  these  per- 
fectly wise  International  schemes? 212 

Tendency  of  Labour  to  displace  its  constructive  leaders       .  213 

Who  are  the  men  that  finally  come  to  the  top?    ....  213 
Appeal  to  Labour  not  to  wreck  and  destroy  the  Empire  that 

it  has  saved  and  fortified    ...  214 


xviii  Table  of  Contents 

PAQB 

New  nations  will  be  increasingly  patriotic 220 

Will  press  their  own  separate  aims,  interests,  and  ambitions  .  220 

Watered  down  Internationalism 222 

Dulce  et  decorum  est  contra  patriam  mori 223 

Sympathy  with  constructive  Socialism 224 

Greater  proportion  of  physically  unfit  in  England  than  in 

Germany  or  France 224 

Our  social  incubator  for  hatching  and  cherishing  wastrels    .  225 

Digression  to  Miss  Marie  Corelli  and  Cicero        ....  226 

>lr/nR,eturn  to  argument  on  Patriotism 228 

Again,  the  two  signposts 229 

Clear  thinkers  who  think  wrongly 230 

TK        Internationalism  always  destructive,  Patriotism  always  con- 
structive    233 

Proposal  for  amalgamation  of  our  planetary  system  with 

thatofSirius 234 

The  Interstellarists 235 

•y     Instinct  of  Patriotism  universal 237 

Our  Pacifists  superabundantly  endowed  with  it    ....  237 
Pacifism  and  Internationalism  perversions  of  the  instinct  of 

Patriotism 238 

Patriotism  and  fire  insurance 239 

Renewed  fruitless  appeal  to  Minister  of  Education   .     .     .  240 
Elementary  drilling  of  our  boys  the  safest  and  cheapest  way 

to  reduce  our  armaments 241 

Also  the  best  physical  and  moral  training  for  the  boys  them- 
selves          242 

A  glance  at  our  National  Debt  and  at  the  little  cherub  who 

sits  up  aloft 244 

CHAPTER  VI 
(November— December  1918 — January  1919) 

OlENEWED  EXAMINATION  OP  POPULAR  EDUCATION  AND  ITS 
EFFECTS: 
Daring  suggestion  to  educate  our  carpenters  to  make  tables 

and  chairs 247 

Non-readers  and  non-regarders 248 

The  Hebrew  Scriptures 249 

Useful  maxims  from  them  for  national  guidance  ....  249 

These  ancient  rules  of  conduct! 251 

Appeal  to  great  permanent  rules  and  principles   .      .     .      .  251 
Have  we  got  hold  of  sure  rules  and  principles  in  Popular 

Education? 252 

Look  at  the  facts! 252 

Double  your  Education  rates!    Treble  them!    Ignorance  is 

the  foe                                 253 


Table  of  Contents  xix 

PAGE 

The  two  most  costly  and  mischievous  kinds  of  ignorance  .  253 
Proposal  to  levy  supplementary  Education  rate  for  study  of 

the  great  commandments 254 

A  matter  for  the  parsons 255 

England  without  a  living  credible  religion 255 

Manual  labourers  in  angry  revolt  against  their  daily  work  .  256 

Professor  Wallace  on  mistaken  education  of  manual  labourers  258 

These  workers  of  England! 260 

Forbidden  to  learn  the  things  they  will  be  mainly  concerned 

to  do 260 

The  young  blacksmith  who  was  educated  to  play  the  flute  .  261 

Educational  experts  and  Jane  Austen's  vicar  ....  263 

How  Nature  establishes  a  sound  and  vigorous  race  .  .  .  264 

Our  care  of  child  life 265 

We  shall  have  to  call  in  the  biologist 265 

Breeding  the  unfit 266 

More  important  to  get  ourselves  rightly  born  than  rightly 

educated  267 

Appeal  to  the  biologist  for  guidance  towards  wise  legislation  267 

Better  to  fit  manual  labour  to  its  job  than  to  force  it  to  its  job  267 
Popular  Education  responsible  for  widely  spread  vulgarity 

and  shoddiness 268 

Our  popular  songs 270 

The  ornament  of  our  common  life 271 

Our  whole  system  of  Popular  education  needs  to  be  built 

on  a  new  basis 272 

Questions  we  now  ask  ourselves  in  educating  our  masses  .  272 

Questions  we  should  ask  ourselves 273 

Broad  division  line  between  manual  labour  and  brain  labour  273 
Necessary  to  estimate  amount  of  each  and  educate  our 

masses  in  proportion 275 

Coal  and  iron  district  peopled  exclusively  by  artists,  scholars, 

and  thinkers 278 

The  gas  workers  of  Odessa 280 

School-teachers  and  rag-pickers 281 

Their  rates  of  pay  compared 281 

An  unsound  social  structure 283 

Universal  superficial  mis-education  the  cause  of  universal 

revolt 285 

Nature  has  already  sorted  out  our  scholars  for  us  ...  288 

Let  us  educate  them  accordingly 288 

A  million  houses  needed  for  working  classes 290 

Why  not  educate  our  children  towards  building  them?  .  .  290 

How  to  avoid  a  social  and  economic  deluge 293 

Rate  of  wages  of  secondary  importance 294 

Social  instability  again  traced  to  absence  of  living  credible 

religion  and  active  working  faith 295 


xx  Table  of  Contents 

Motto  for  a  new  Education  Act 296 

Nature  about  to  bring  in  a  stringent  Uneducation  Act  of 

her  own 297 

CHAPTER  VII 
(January  1919) 

SUMMING  UP  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION  IN  OUR  THEATRES: 

A  matter  of  national  concern 298 

A  mis-educated  public 300 

Our  masses  badly  trained,  alike  for  useful  productive  work 

and  for  wise  amusement 301 

Vulgarization  of  our  national  life  by  indiscriminate  super- 
ficial Education  302 

A  correct  "attitude  of  mind"  towards  "the  facts  of  life"    .  302 

A  correct  attitude  of  body  even  more  desirable    ....  303 

"Attitude  of  mind"  of  our  popular  audiences      ....  304 
Pressing  invitation  to  Minister  of  Education  to  become  a 

playgoer 304 

"Who  has  been  mis-educating  these  dear  good  folk?"    .      .  305 

SUMMING  UP  ON  THE  LEAGUE  OP  NATIONS: 

Millennium  again  postponed 305 

Aunt  Julia 306 

Grand  allegorical  design  to  commemorate  the  founding  of 

the  League 307 

The  arch  on  which  rests  the  peace  of  the  world    ....  307 

THE  LAST  APPEAL: 

All  these  questions  are  one  question 309 

The  innumerable  cloud  of  witnesses 311 

Our  two  mightiest  voices  speak  to  us 311 

Choose,  England! 313 


INTRODUCTORY  LETTER 

To  the  EIGHT  HON.  HEEBEET  A.  L.  FISHER, 
President  of  the  Board  of  Education. 

(March  1918) 

DEAB  ME.  FISHEE, 

Now  that  your  Education  Bill  has  taken  its  main 
outlines  and  permanent  general  form,  and  is  safe  from 
any  serious  injury  or  wide  amendment,  may  I,  with- 
out impertinence,  sot  down  some  insurgent  thoughts 
upon  the  subject,  which  for  a  long  time  past  have  heen 
collecting  themselves  in  my  mind,  and  which  the  re- 
marseless  events  and  emergencies  of  these  last  few  years 
drive  to  seek  utterance  ?  I  can  scarcely  hope  that  they 
will  he  of  any  present  service  to  the  cause  of  Education, 
for  they  run  away  in  many  different  directions  from  the 
main  stream  of  national  opinion.  This,  in  itself,  offers 
some  presumption  that  they  are  more  or  less  ill  adapted 
to  prevailing  conditions.  And  it  is  rather  with  a  forlorn 
and  fugitive  desire  to  help  you  in  moulding  your  next 
Education  Bill,  than  with  the  view  of  inducing  you  to 
change  some  features  of  the  present  one,  that  I  beg  leave 
to  lay  these  thoughts  before  you.  They  have  the  merit, 
or  defect,  of  being  written  by  one  who  is  wholly  removed 
from  party  politics,  and  is  therefore  free  to  be  con- 
cerned only  for  what  he  conceives  to  be  the  welfare  of 
the  State. 

May  I  be  allowed  then  to  wander  round  this  most 
thorny  and  difficult  subject  of  Popular  Education,  in 
searching  but  discursive,  variable,  and  often  perhaps 

xxi 


xxii  Introductory  Letter 

illogical  and  contradictory  thought,  and  to  take  you 
with  me  so  far  as  you  have  patience  and  inclination  to 
go  ?  It  is  necessary  that  our  thoughts  upon  any  subject 
should  at  first  be  variable,  tentative,  and  contradictory, 
before  they  can  clarify  and  settle  into  steadfast  and 
assured  conviction. 

It  is  with  no  wish  to  hamper  or  obstruct  you  in  your 
arduous  and  immensely  complicated  task,  that  I  bring 
before  you  these  unwelcome  facts  and  inconvenient 
comments  and  suggestions.  But  perhaps  they  may  serve 
to  put  before  you  certain  aspects  of  the  question  which 
have  hitherto  lain  somewhat  outside  the  views  and  aims 
of  experts  in  Education,  but  which  seem  to  call  for 
serious  consideration.  In  any  case  I  offer  you  as  my 
justification  for  addressing  this  letter  to  you  personally, 
the  comforting  reminder  that  you  are  not  obliged  to 
read  it.  And  this  easy  way  of  escape  from  my  im- 
portunities lies  equally  open  to  all  who  may  wish  to 
ignore  them. 

When  your  Education  Bill  was  in  its  earliest  stages 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  I  was  lunching  with  a  lady 
who,  in  the  dearth  of  servants,  had  taken  as  domestic 
helps  the  wife  and  children  of  a  gardener,  absent  at  the 
war.  A  little  before  lunch,  the  elder  girl  of  fourteen 
came  in  from  school,  much  worried  with  a  paper  of  ques- 
tions that  had  been  set  her.  "Tell  me  what  you  know 
about  Cicero,"  was  one  of  the  demands  upon  her;  and 
the  other  questions  were  of  a  lofty  and  more  or  less  ab- 
stract kind,  all  equally  remote  from  the  daily  duties 
which  the  girl  would  have  to  perform  for  the  whole  of 
her  life.  The  child  was  about  the  average  of  her  class 
in  physique  and  intelligence,  certainly  not  in  any 
marked  degree  below  the  average.  She  was  genuinely 
anxious  to  scrape  up  as  much  acquaintance  with  Cicero 


Introductory  Letter 


XXlll 


as  would  tide  her  over  any  difficulties  at  school.  To 
this  end  she  sought  assistance  from  her  mother,  who 
was  cooking  the  lunch.  How  far  this  sudden  call  upon 
her  classical  acquirements  deranged  the  good  gardener's 
wife,  I  cannot  say,  but  we  certainly  had  a  very  tough 
and  leathery  omelette.  A  short  conversation  that  I 
had  with  the  girl  after  lunch,  was  enough  to  show  very 
clearly  that  whatever  precarious  items  of  information 
about  Cicero  she  could  temporarily  pack  into  her  mind, 
would  probably  wander  out  of  it  into  vacuity  within  a 
fortnight. 

Further,  granting  that  she  could  retain  them,  she 
could  not,  I  am  persuaded,  put  them  into  relation  with 
her  general  conception  of  Roman  history  and  literature, 
or  with  her  stock  of  other  knowledge,  or  with  whatever 
coherent  theory  she  may  form  of  human  life.  That 
is  to  say,  whatever  scattered  facts  she  may  have  been 
able  to  glean  about  Cicero,  will  not  be  of  the  least  use  to 
her,  or  to  any  living  being,  in  the  tremendous  struggle 
which  we  shall  be  called  upon  to  endure  in  the  coming 
generation.  They  will  not,  I  am  convinced,  lead  her  to 
a  further  knowledge  of  Cicero,  so  that  she  may  be  able 
to  guide  her  friendships  by  Cicero's  essay  on  Friend- 
ship, or  to  solace  her  declining  years  by  his  essay  on 
Old  Age.  I  question  if  at  any  time  during  her  life 
she  will  be  able  to  comprehend  three  pages  of  the  trans- 
lations of  either  of  these  essays.  If  any  facts  about 
Cicero  remain  in  her  memory,  which  is  highly  im- 
probable, they  will  remain  as  dead  facts,  and  hindrances 
to  whatever  useful  mental  activities  she  may  possess. 
Meantime,  the  omelette  was  spoilt. 

Sir,  this  poor  flustered  child  is  the  type  of  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  her  class  whom  we  are  educating,  not 
in  knowledge  that  will  be  useful  to  them,  and  helpful 


xxiv  Introductory  Letter 

to  us  all;  not  in  things  that  are  congenial  to  their  nat- 
ural ability;  not  in  the  very  fine  arts  that  make  for 
domestic  welfare  and  happiness,  but  in  smatterings  of 
recondite  matters  that  can  have  no  bearings  on  their  ac- 
tual life,  and  that,  so  far  as  they  are  remembered  at  all, 
tend  only  to  a  state  of  mental  bewilderment. 

I  gladly  acknowledge  that  here  and  there  among  our 
working  classes  are  to  be  found  girls  of  fourteen  who 
can  appreciate  Cicero,  and  who  should  be  taught  all 
that  they  can  learn  about  him,  so  that  they  can  fitly 
place  him  in  an  ordered  scheme  of  general  knowledge. 
And  these  girls  are  quite  likely  to  be  those  who  will 
make  the  best  omelettes.  Oppressed  as  I  am  with  tax- 
ation, I  am  still  willing  to  pay  for  them  to  be  taught 
all  about  Cicero,  and  all  about  making  omelettes.  But 
these  girls  are  one  in  a  thousand,  and  most  likely  they 
will  themselves  take  eager  care  of  nine-tenths  of  their 
higher  education.  I  am  not  willing  to  pay  for  the 
masses  of  our  working  classes  to  be  taught  a  heap  of 
what  is  to  them  quite  mentally  indigestible  matter, 
which  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  will  be  thrown  out 
of  their  minds  almost  before  it  is  learned,  and  which, 
so  far  as  any  result  is  obtained  from  it,  wastes  and  mis- 
directs their  mental  energy,  and  is  neither  useful  nor 
pleasurable  to  them,  nor  profitable  to  the  State. 

I  shall  be  told  that  I  am  talking  old-fashioned  ex- 
ploded nonsense.  Let  me  try  to  justify  myself. 

First,  let  me  say  that  I  cordially  accept,  and  am  ready 
to  subscribe,  in  both  senses,  to  the  general  rule  that 
every  child  in  the  kingdom  shall  be  educated  in  such 
a  way  that  whatever  physical  and  mental  powers  he 
possesses  shall  be  developed  to  the  extent,  and  in  the 
direction,  that  shall  make  him  most  useful  to  the  State. 
Here  I  suppose  I  am  in  agreement  with  you.  Let  me 


Introductory  Letter  xxv 

claim  that  this  general  rule  quite  excludes  the  immense 
majority  of  children  from  being  educated  by  the  State 
in  such  a  way  as  will  fully  develop  all  their  mental  pow- 
ers, or  in  most  cases  a  third  part  of  their  mental  pow- 
ers ;  or  in  such  a  way  as  will  develop  these  mental  powj 
ers  to  the  individual  interest  and  personal  advancement 
of  the  child  himself,  either  intellectually,  or  socially, 
or  materially.  Some  potential  Miltons  must  remain 
mute  and  inglorious.  Some  potential  Masters  of  Trin- 
ity, who  happen  to  be  born  in  a  carboniferous  region, 
must,  willy  nilly,  forgo  academic  distinction  and  spend 
their  time  and  strength  in  digging  coal.  There  must 
always  be  a  vast  waste  of  potential  mental  energy,  as 
of  everything  else  in  Nature. 

There  is,  for  instance,  an  enormous  waste  of  sun- 
power,  but  we  do  not  utilize  it  when  we  laboriously 
try  to  extract  sunshine  from  cucumbers.  We  do  not 
utilize  the  waste  mental  abilities  of  our  masses  by  in- 
discriminately forcing  all  of  them  to  learn  facts  about 
Cicero,  and  other  abstract  matters  which  will  be  quite 
useless  to  them  in  after  life,  and  whose  acquirement 
consumes  a  certain  amount  of  energy  that  might  be 
profitably  given  to  the  service  of  the  State.  In  that 
way  we  may  make  one  fairly  accomplished  scholar  and 
perhaps  fifty  prigs  in  a  thousand,  while  all  the  others 
will  go  their  own  way  and  joyfully  forget  all  about 
Cicero  in  the  study  of  the  latest  sixpenny  love  story, 
or  the  latest  tip  about  a  football  match. 

I  am  writing  here  in  the  interests  of  the  State,  and 
with  the  object  of  turning  out  citizens  useful  to  the 
State;  and  I  am  concerned  to  show,  what  is  apparently 
overlooked  by  many  of  our  experts,  that  in  Education, 
as  in  most  other  matters,  the  interests  of  the  individual 
child  are  often,  and  in  many  ways,  opposed  to  the  in- 


xxvi  Introductory  Letter 

terests  of  the  State.  We  are  sending  our  "boys  out  to 
France  to  be  maimed  and  killed.  It  is  not  at  all  in 
their  individual  interest  to  go,  but  it  is  for  the  welfare 
of  the  State.  And  if  we  are  prepared  to  bid  our  chil- 
dren make  this  supreme  sacrifice  for  the  State,  so  in 
the  matter  of  Education  we  must  not  give  all  our  chil- 
dren, or  even  the  majority  of  our  children,  that  educa- 
tion which  we  would  desire  to  give  them  in  their  own 
individual  interest,  and  which  would  most  thoroughly 
develop  all  their  mental  powers,  but  just  that  education 
which  will  make  them  most  useful  servants  of  the  State. 
It  is  not,  I  affirm,  in  the  interests  of  the  State  to  have 
every  child  highly  educated  except  in  those  matters 
and  aptitudes  that  will  enable  him  best  to  fulfil  his 
duties  to  the  State.  This  perhaps  may  sound  like  a 
truism,  but  it  is  practically  denied  in  the  working  and 
in  the  main  tendencies  of  our  present  system  of  Pop- 
ular Education. 

Nobody  will  deny  that  Popular  Education  has  con- 
ferred immense  benefits  and  advantages  not  only  upon 
the  working  classes,  but  indirectly  upon  all  classes  of 
Englishmen.  It  may  be  cheerfully  acknowledged  that 
in  many  ways  it  has  transformed  our  lives  for  the  bet- 
ter. Popular  Education  has  given  us  much.  Has  it 
given  us  all,  or  most  of  the  good  things  that  we  reason- 
ably hoped  from  it?  What  has  our  present  system 
taken  away  from  us?  Has  it  not  to  a  great  and  in- 
creasing extent  taken  away  from  us  some  of  the  most 
precious  things  of  all?  Has  it  not  foisted  upon  us 
many  undesirable  and  some  pernicious  things?  Has 
it  not  tended  to  foster  some  habits  and  ways  of  thought 
that,  unless  they  are  checked,  may  ultimately  prove  de- 
structive to  us? 

I  suppose  I  shall  be  thought  to  be  crazy  if  I  question 


Introductory  Letter  xxvii 

that  there  is  an  immense  balance  to  the  good  on  account 
of  Popular  Education,  an  overwhelming  credit,  and  a 
few  mere  inconsiderable  items  of  debit. 

Who  can  strike  the  balance?  It  all  depends  upon 
what  qualities  of  human  nature  we  most  highly  esteem, 
what  virtues  in  a  people  are  ultimately  found  to  be  most 
necessary  to  their  welfare  and  indeed  to  their  existence, 
what  relative  values  we  place  on  these  qualities  and 
virtues.  Before  the  balance  can  be  struck,  it  will  have 
to  be  decided  what  are  our  present  main  national  aims, 
and  how  far  we  are  directing  our  national  energies  in 
their  pursuit.  Some  of  us  would  say  that  underneath 
these  questions  lie  the  more  fundamental  questions  as 
to  what  is  the  true  welfare  of  the  State,  and  how  far 
our  present  national  aims  are  directed  to  attain  it. 
This  goes  down  to  bedrock.  But  the  times  are  such 
that  we  must  find  sure  foundations  or  perish.  And 
until  we  know  what  kind  of  welfare  we  desire  for 
our  State,  and  until  we  are  substantially  united  in  our 
national  aims  to  attain  it,  all  our  legislation  must  be 
tentative,  and  will  probably  be  blundering  and  mis- 
chievous. Now  in  this  great  matter  of  Education,  it 
seems  to  me  that  educational  experts  have  not  sufficient- 
ly grasped  this  cardinal  fact,  that  the  immediate  in- 
terests of  the  individual  child  are  in  the  majority  of 
cases  opposed  in  many  ways  to  the  interests  of  the 
State;  that  as  in  the  other  warfare,  many  children 
must  necessarily  be  sacrificed  so  far  as  their  higher 
education  is  concerned;  that  they  cannot  be  edu- 
cated to  their  utmost  mental  capacity,  or  to  anything 
like  their  utmost  mental  capacity,  without  wasting  en- 
ergies that  will  be  more  and  more  urgently  demanded 
by  the  State  for  more  pressing  and  more  useful  employ- 
ment. I  say  this  law  is  neglected  by  educational  ex- 


xxviii  Introductory  Letter 

perts;  indeed  many  of  them  do  not  suspect  its  exis- 
tence. Yet  it  is  surely  operative,  as  will  be  seen  before 
many  generations  have  passed.  I  will  not  dwell  here 
upon  the  very  evident  fact,  that  the  majority  of  our 
people  are  not  naturally  capable  of  receiving  or  assimi- 
lating an  education  that  requires  them  to  take  more 
than  three  steps  in  abstract  thought. 

Let  us  leave  the  theoretical  side  of  the  question  and 
glance  at  the  actual  working  of  Popular  Education. 

Your  Bill  will  not  essentially  change  our  present  sys- 
tem. It  widens  and  enlarges  it.  What  type  of  English 
working  man  has  been  evolved  and  standardized  by 
Popular  Education,  so  far  as  we  can  separate  its  ef- 
fects from  all  the  other  influences  and  tendencies  of 
our  civilization  that  have  also  helped  to  mould  him? 
How  far  has  our  system  of  education  really  educated 
him  in  the  things  that  it  most  concerns  him  to  know 
and  to  live  by,  and  most  concerns  the  nation  that  he 
should  know  and  practise  ? 

I  will  take  the  two  tests  that  seem  to  me  the  most 
trustworthy — the  test  of  his  work,  and  the  yet  surer 
test  of  his  play.  But  I  am  willing  that  any  other  tests 
shall  be  applied,  provided  that  they  ensure  that  the 
effects  of  Popular  Education  can  be  traced,  without 
confusing  them  with  the  effects  of  other  agencies.  First 
there  is  the  test  of  work. 


PATRIOTISM 
AND  POPULAR  EDUCATION 


PATRIOTISM  AND 
POPULAR  EDUCATION 


CHAPTER  I 


(March— April  1918) 

My  old  Carpenter — "Artistic,  sixpence  three  farthings" — A  well 
educated  working  man — Dame  Nature  a  harsher  "exploiter"  than 
the  capitalist — Working  men  cheat  their  brother  working  men — - 
Not  a  question  of  Capital  and  Labour,  but  of  honesty  or  dishon- 
esty— A  call  for  the  Parsons — Proposal  to  ship  some  of  them  to 
Kikuyu — Robinson  Crusoe  and  Friday's  neglected  education — 
Deplorable  ignorance  of  Friday  of  matters  that  did  not  concern 
him — Consequent  economic  stability  of  the  island — Friday's  ca- 
pacity for  abstract  thought — General  education  the  enemy  of 
good  craftsmanship — Monstrous  and  ridiculous  proposal  to  drill 
our  boys  for  the  future  defence  of  their  country — Equally  mon- 
strous and  ridiculous  proposal  to  teach  our  girls  what  will  be 
useful  to  them  as  wives  and  mothers — Enlargement  of  dictum 
of  the  Minister  of  Education  concerning  general  education. 

POPULAE  Education  has  now  been  in  force  for 
nearly  fifty  years.  I  have  in  my  mind  a  fairly 
typical  working  man  of  the  better  class  of  fifty  years 
ago.  He  was  a  carpenter  in  a  small  provincial  town. 
He  had  received  a  very  limited  education,  I  suppose  at 
a  National  School  of  those  days,  which  I  daresay  he 
left  at  about  the  age  of  twelve.  He  was  probably  then 
apprenticed  to  his  trade.  He  must  have  learned  it 
thoroughly  in  all  its  branches;  for  when  I  knew  him 

1 


2  Patriotism  and 

in  hia  late  middle  age,  lie  could  and  did  make  with 
his  own  hands,  the  whole  of  a  large  useful  cabinet  for 
a  middle-class  sitting  room.  That  cabinet,  by  its  sound 
workmanship,  its  sensible  shape,  its  fitness  and  utility, 
would  utterly  shame  and  condemn  anything  that  a  mid- 
dle-class family  could  buy  at  furnishing  shops  in  1914, 
at  three  or  four  times  its  price.  You  cannot  get  as  good 
workmanship  to-day  in  its  class.  He  was  equally  adept 
and  honest  and  thorough  in  whatever  job  he  was  called 
in  to  do. 

After  fifty  years  of  Popular  Education,  it  is  almost 
impossible  for  a  lower  or  middle-class  family  to  get  a 
drawer  that  will  slide,  or  a  window-sash  that  will  work 
easily,  or  a  door  that  will  close  properly.  The  carpen- 
try work  in  our  cheap  modern  houses  and  apartments 
is  for  the  most  part  abominably  bad,  inconvenient, 
treacherous,  and  perishable.  The  design  and  shape  of 
most  of  our  modern  furniture  justifies  the  current  slang 
epithet,  "appalling."  In  all  the  decoration  of  our  lower 
and  middle-class  homes,  the  more  taste  we  pretend  to, 
the  less  taste  we  have.  You  may  have  noticed  the  un- 
conscious self-deceit  and  the  unblushing  impudence  of 
those  many  articles  of  use  and  decoration  which  are 
ticketed  in  shop  windows,  "Artistic,  sixpence  three 
farthings."  They  loudly  proclaim  that  the  people  who 
design  them,  the  people  who  make  them,  the  people 
who  sell  them,  and  the  people  who  use  them,  must  have 
had  a  general  education  that  has  vitiated  their  taste, 
and  deprived  them  of  their  apprehension  of  beauty. 
The  daily  use  of  the  word  "artistic"  is  a  terrible  con- 
demnation of  our  present  system  of  Popular  Education. 
It  is  one  of  the  many  words  upon  whose  use  a  very 
heavy  tax  should  be  laid  for  the  benefit  of  our  impov- 
erished exchequer. 


Popular  Education  3 

I  do  not  say  that  the  state  of  things  I  have  noted  is 
entirely  the  effect  of  Popular  Education.  I  do  say  that 
it  is  very  palpably  the  correlative  of  Popular  Educa- 
tion; and  that  its  continuance  and  apparent  growth  is 
a  grave  reproach,  if  not  a  severe  condemnation  of  our 
present  system. 

To  return  to  my  carpenter.  He  read  very  little, 
scarcely  anything,  except  the  local  weekly  paper  on 
Saturday,  and  on  other  days,  and  chiefly  on  Sundays, 
the  Bihle  and  the  "Pilgrim's  Progress."  Thus  he  had 
a  very  close  acquaintance  with  some  of  the  best  lit- 
erature, and  was  quite  ignorant  of  trash.  This  was 
evident  in  his  daily  talk,  for  he  often  coined  a  sentence 
not  wholly  unworthy  to  appear  in  either  of  those  books. 
He  worked  very  hard,  often  twelve  or  fourteen  hours 
a  day,  and  he  gave  his  light  evenings  to  his  garden. 
And  being  temperate  and  fully  occupied  with  his  work, 
he  lived  to  a  good  old  age.  I  cannot  remember  whether 
he  had  any  political  opinions. 

I  will  allow  that  my  carpenter  was  somewhat  above 
the  average,  but  not  so  much  as  to  make  it  unfair  to 
present  him  as  a  type  of  his  class ;  for  his  match  could 
readily  be  found  in  most  English  towns  of  that  day,  and 
of  the  previous  three  hundred  years.  In  all  that  counts 
as  a  sound  education,  that  is,  an  education  which  fits  a 
man  to  serve  the  interests  of  the  State  in  his  particular 
calling,  while  affording  him  a  reasonably  happy,  con- 
tented, and  healthy  life — in  these  essentials  my  car- 
penter was  a  better  educated  man  than  the  correspond- 
ing carpenter  of  to-day. 

Further  than  this,  though  his  general  outlook  on  life 
was  very  narrow  and  cramped;  though  he  was  child- 
ishly ignorant  and  prejudiced  and  superstitious  on  many 
important  subjects,  yet,  on  the  whole,  he  lived  a  richer, 


4  Patriotism  and 

fuller,  more  admirable,  more  enviable  life  than  the 
average  carpenter  of  to-day.  But  the  chief  point  for 
the  interests  of  the  State,  is  that  he  was  a  thoroughly 
good  carpenter  of  a  numerous,  widely-spread  class. 
Such  a  carpenter  can  scarcely  be  found  in  all  England 
to-day. 

Now  carpentry  is  perhaps  of  all  occupations  the 
most  universal  and  the  most  necessary  in  all  ages,  and 
all  lands.  It  is  the  one  that  is  most  necessary  to  the 
comfort  of  our  homes.  I  am  at  present  enduring  great 
discomfort  from  the  radical  dishonesty  of  much  of  the 
woodwork  and  fittings  in  my  house,  which  is  quite 
modern. 

I  will  beg  you,  sir,  to  place  these  facts  in  due  rela- 
tion to  our  system  of  Popular  Education,  and  to  tell 
me  why  it  is,  that  while  before  its  advent  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  get  a  piece  of  bad  carpentry  in  lower  and 
middle-class  homes,  it  is  now  almost  impossible  to  get  a 
piece  of  good  carpentry  ? 

I  shall  be  told  that  it  is  due  to  the  capitalist.  No- 
body hates  many  of  the  forms  and  aspects  of  our 
present-day  commercialism  more  than  I  do,  or  more 
despises  the  base  truckers  who  fatten  upon  it.  But  all 
attempts  to  get  rid  of  the  capitalist  have  ended  in  far- 
cical or  tragical  failure;  whether  made  in  quite  small 
communities,  or  on  a  large  national  scale,  as  lately 
in  Eussia.  And  if  we  make  the  State  our  sole  capi- 
talist, as  some  desire,  we  shall  find  it  a  more  harsh, 
cruel,  capricious,  and  grinding  "exploiter"  than  any 
private  master.  We  shall  also  find  it  a  most  incapable, 
bungling,  and  dishonest  employer,  who,  having  muddled 
all  our  concerns  and  bewildered  and  stultified  itself,  will 
slip  out  of  the  mess  by  dissolving  itself,  leaving  us  in 
universal  poverty  and  despair,  to  be  "exploited"  by 


Popular  Education  5 

grim  old  Dame  Nature,  the  harshest  and  cruellest  "ex- 
ploiter" and  employer  of  all.  For  she  knows  no  pity 
and  allows  no  argument.  She  will  enter  into  no  con- 
ference or  arbitration.  She  makes  her  own  award, 
and  straightway  enforces  it,  "Work  or  Starve."  Some- 
times it  is  "Work  and  starve."  Sometimes  it  is  briefly 
"Starve."  And  there  is  no  appeal.  Compared  with 
her  bleak  and  iron  governance,  the  worst  tyranny  of 
our  present  employers  and  "exploiters"  is  as  mothers' 
mercies  and  as  fathers'  blessings.  Witness  what  is  hap- 
pening in  Russia  to-day  where  famine,  black  typhus, 
misery,  desolation,  madness,  murder,  and  anarchy 
shriek  out  to  us  that  the  corrupt  and  abominable  despot- 
ism of  the  Czar  was  a  mild  and  beneficent  rule  com- 
pared with  the  despotism  of  whimsies  and  fallacies  and 
sophistries. 

^sTo,  sir,  it  is  not  the  capitalist.  The  capitalist  does 
not  make  the  rickety  chairs,  the  drawers  that  will  not 
slide,  and  all  the  other  trumpery  inconveniences  that 
make  our  working-class  homes  so  miserable  and  unin- 
habitable. It  is  something  to  his  profit  to  get  them 
made  well,  though  I  daresay  he  cares  little  for  this.  I 
am  not  seeking  to  defend  the  capitalist.  I  have  not 
much  liking  for  him.  And  I  have  a  real  fondness  for 
working  men,  and  so  much  sympathy  that  I  would  like 
to  be  counted  one  of  them.  And  I  think  I  am  so  en- 
titled, for  when  I  was  twelve  and  a  half  years  old, 
that  is,. three  months  after  I  had  finally  left  school,  I 
was  working  sixteen  hours  a  day.  I  hope  this  will 
show  that  I  have  no  class  bias. 

To  return.  The  capitalist  does  not  make  all  the  vil- 
lainous paraphernalia  of  our  working-class  homes. 
These  things  are  made  by  the  working  classes  themselves, 
for  themselves.  And  as  by  far  the  greater  part  of  such 


6  Patriotism  and 

things  are  manufactured  for  the  use  of  the  working 
classes,  it  follows  that  it  is  mainly  the  working  classes 
who  are  cheated  when  they  are  made  badly.  The  work- 
ing man  thinks  he  is  making  them  for  an  employer, 
who  is  "exploiting"  him  and  whom  he  has  been  taught 
to  regard  as  his  deadly  enemy.  He  is  really  making 
them  mainly  for  his  brother  working  man,  whom  he 
is  cheating  when  he  does  this  necessary  home  work 
badly. 

IsTo  capitalist  could  have  driven  my  old  carpenter  to 
make  his  bits  of  home  furniture  badly.  He  could  not 
do  his  work  badly,  because  in  the  first  place  he  had  so 
thoroughly  and  soundly  learned  his  trade,  that  good 
solid  work  was  a  habit  that  had  become  his  second  na- 
ture. A  sound  knowledge  of  his  craft  was  his  "higher" 
education.  And  as  he  regularly  worked  about  twelve 
hours  a  day,  he  had  plenty  of  leisure  in  those  twelve 
hours  to  do  his  work  well.  He  needed  not  to  scamp  it. 
His  mind  and  energies  were  chiefly  employed  upon  his 
work.  He  put  his  heart  and  brain  into  it,  and  thus 
unconsciously  served  the  best  interests  of  the  State. 
He  was  thoroughly  educated  in  what  it  chiefly  con- 
cerned him  to  know  for  his  own  good,  and  for  the  good 
of  the  State.  He  had  also  been  taught,  even  before 
his  school  days,  that  "The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  be- 
ginning of  knowledge."  1  His  interpretation  of  this  and 
kindred  texts  compelled  him  to  do  his  work  well,  for 
it  made  him  afraid  to  do  it  badly.  He  had  a  deep  and 
abiding  sense  of  his  duty  to  his  employers,  and  he  did 
not  look  upon  them  as  his  natural  and  mortal  enemies. 
Therefore,  when  he  made  something  for  a  working- 
class  home,  he  made  it  well,  and  his  brother  working 
man  was  benefited. 

1  Proverbs,  chap,  i,  verse  7. 


Popular  Education  7 

What  has  all  this  to  do  with  Popular  Education  ?  It 
is  the  very  warp  and  essence  of  it ! 

Working  men  make  for  each  other  all  their  own  ar- 
ticles of  every-day  use,  all  the  apparel  of  their  homes. 
If  these  things  are  not  made  well,  the  fault  must  rest 
either  upon  themselves  in  not  giving  sufficient  time, 
or  skill,  or  thought,  or  energy  to  this  primary  business 
of  life;  or  upon  a  system  of  Popular  Education  that 
must  be  radically  vicious  or  defective  because  it  does 
not  teach  them  the  first  great  lesson  of  all  education — • 
to  do  their  particular  work  in  the  world  honestly,  and 
with  all  their  might.  In  other  words,  in  not  teaching 
them  that  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of 
knowledge — putting  a  wide  and  practical  interpre- 
tation on  this  text.  When  this  first  great  lesson  is  left 
untaught,  much  of  what  is  curiously  called  "higher  edu- 
cation" is  likely  to  be  useless  and  mischievous  to  them- 
selves, and  ultimately  dangerous  to  the  State. 

It  is  not  a  question  of  capital  and  labour.  It  is  a 
question  of  honesty  or  dishonesty  of  workmanship  in 
each  particular  calling.  When,  as  in  the  carpentry 
of  our  homes,  the  general  workmanship  is  slack,  un- 
skilled, and  perishable,  it  is  the  working  classes  who 
suffer  first  and  suffer  most,  and  have  to  bear  the  chief 
brunt  of  the  hardships.  For  they  are  by  far  the  most 
numerous  class,  and  are  inevitably  the  nearest  and  most 
accessible  to  any  and  every  assault  of  national  misfor- 
tune or  error.  When  the  carpentry  of  our  homes  is 
honest,  thorough,  skilled,  and  durable,  it  is  the  working 
classes  who  are  mainly  and  most  widely  benefited.  For 
the  additional  comfort  and  convenience  means  so  much 
more  to  them  than  to  the  well-to-do,  and  this  additional 
comfort  and  convenience  is  distributed  over  the  largest 
area.  !ftTo  encroachments  and  tyranny  of  the  capitalist 


8  Patriotism  and 

can  destroy  what  comforts  are  to  be  got  from  good  and 
serviceable  home  carpentry,  if  only  the  carpenters  them- 
selves are  doing  this  work  in  sufficient  quantity  for 
their  brother  working  men.  And  no  dethronement  of 
the  capitalist  and  the  middleman,  even  to  the  level  of 
compelling  them  to  make  bad  and  rickety  furniture 
with  their  own  hands,  will  in  the  least  add  to  the  com- 
fort and  convenience  of  the  working-class  home,  if  the 
carpenters  do  not  study  to  make  the  work  they  do  for 
their  comrades  as  honest  and  durable  as  they  can. 

Let  us  take  care  that  in  our  just  anger  against  the 
middleman  and  the  "exploiter,"  we  do  not  forget  to 
kindle  to  a  fiercer  heat,  a  juster  anger  against  ourselves 
for  all  the  sloppy,  perfunctory,  dishonest,  careless,  use- 
less, harmful  work  we  are  doing  in  the  world.  Let  us 
take  care  that  while  we  are  mainly  busy  in  making  a 
clean  sweep  of  the  capitalist  and  the  exploiter,  that  iron, 
grim,  implacable  old  Dame  isn't  preparing  to  make  a 
clean  sweep  of  us.  A  very  short  taste  of  her  "exploit- 
ing" will  make  us  cry  out  for  somebody  to  "exploit" 
us  out  of  our  misery.  We  may  even  be  sorry  that  we 
didn't  put  up  with  our  present  "exploiters,"  bad  and 
corrupt  as  many  of  them  are. 

Sir,  for  many  centuries  to  come,  perhaps  while  time 
endures,  the  great  majority  of  mankind  will  necessarily 
have  to  be  "exploited"  in  all  the  main  affairs  of  life 
by  somebody  or  the  other.  In  Russia  we  may  notice 
that  it  is  the  Germans  who  have  temporarily  taken  over 
this  necessary  and  fundamental  business.  What  a 
strange  denouement  if  Nature's  answer  to  the  whimsies 
of  the  Pacifists  should  be  establishment  of  a  line  of 
military  exploiters !  She  is  quite  capable  of  a  gigantic 
hoax  of  this  kind — witness  the  innumerable  millions 
whom  she  has  led  to  their  destruction,  dancing  after 


Popular  Education  9 

some  painted  Jack-o-Lantern  of  political  or  spiritual 
delusion.  She  is  always  playing  these  hideous  tricks 
on  people  who  nurse  whimsies;  and  her  darling  victim 
is  not  the  dull,  stupid  man,  but  the  fervent  Impossi- 
blist,  and  the  cheap-jack  purveyor  of  gorgeous  dreams 
to  the  multitude. 

The  first  duty  of  Popular  Education  is  to  teach  that 
all  careless,  scamped,  and  dishonest  work  is  a  crime 
against  the  State.  Till  working-men  learn  this  hard 
lesson,  no  adjustments  of  capital  and  labour,  no  mas- 
sacre of  middle  men  and  exploiters,  will  better  their  lot ; 
and  no  classical  or  mathematical  attainments  will  be 
other  than  foolish  and  wasteful  furbelows — a  spangled 
cloak  thrown  over  a  body  eaten  by  cancer. 

Here  I  think  I  hear  somebody  calling  out  loudly  for 
the  parsons.  I  am  sure  that  many  of  them  have  done 
hard  and  fruitful  and  unselfish  service  in  the  cause  of 
Popular  Education.  But  have  not  the  majority  of 
them  been  far  more  concerned  to  teach  their  indi- 
vidual whimsies,  than  the  plain  commandments  by 
which  men  live  ?  Have  they  not  insisted  that  these  va- 
ried, shifting,  inconsistent,  contradictory,  incomprehen- 
sible whimsies  shall  be  made  the  foundation  of  Popular 
Education,  and  that  unless  these  whimsies  are  bound 
up  in  assorted  sets  with  the  multiplication  table,  there 
shall  be  no  multiplication  table  at  all?  Have  not  the 
parsons  been  the  great  hinderers  and  obstructors  of 
Popular  Education  ?  And  might  it  not  be  wise  in  the 
interests  of  Popular  Education  and  of  religion,  as  soon 
as  sufficient  tonnage  is  available,  to  ship  all  the  parsoni 
who  cannot  agree  amongst  themselves  to  Kikuyu,  their 
happy  hunting-ground,  their  favourite  cockpit,  their 
holiday  resort,  their  Mecca,  their  spiritual  home,  and 
their  unhonoured  grave  ? 


10  Patriotism  and 

Nevertheless,  we  may  be  grateful  to  the  many  of 
them  who  have  taught,  even  with  much  admixture  of 
whimsy,  the  first  great  lesson  of  Popular  Education, 
that  honest,  careful,  useful,  productive  work  for  our 
fellows,  each  in  our  allotted  sphere,  is  the  first  and 
main  duty  of  us  all  to  the  State.  Whatever  else  is 
taught  is  secondary,  and  comparatively  unimportant. 
For  it  is  clear  that  if  this  lesson  is  thoroughly  learned, 
and  if  this  duty  is  thoroughly  done,  a  condition  of  in- 
ternal general  well-being  must  necessarily  follow.  It  is 
also  clear  that  the  allotted  sphere  of  the  vast  majority 
of  us,  must  be  one  that  requires  of  us  constant,  hard, 
dirty  labour  that  will  necessarily  absorb  the  greater  part 
of  our  physical  energy,  and  will  not  leave  us  a  large 
surplus  of  mental  energy  to  acquire  facts  about  Cicero, 
or  an  unlimited  leisure  to  play  golf  and  attend  football 
matches. 

I  am  quite  willing  to  pay  for  other  people's  chil- 
dren to  be  taught  all  about  Cicero,  and  therein 
to  excel  me;  and  this  with  money  that  I  have 
earned,  and  badly  need  to  make  provision  for  my 
own  children,  in  whose  favour  I  am  perhaps  a  little  pre- 
judiced— I  say  I  am  quite  willing  that  my  cash  shall 
be  thus  disbursed,  if  only  it  can  be  proved  that  such 
teaching  helps  the  cooking  of  the  communal  omelette, 
and  the  easy  working  of  the  domestic  apparatus,  and  is 
on  the  whole  the  best  way  of  spending  my  money  for 
the  welfare  of  the  State.  But  I  have  my  doubts. 

I  will  go  further  and  own  myself  willing  to  try  my 
hand  at  cooking  the  omelette  myself,  while  paying  for 
our  future  servants  to  be  taught  all  about  Cicero — if 
only  it  can  be  proved  that  such  a  direction  of  our  sev- 
eral energies,  is  on  the  whole  the  best  that  can  be  de- 


Popular  Education  11 

vised  for  the  welfare  of  the  State.  But  I  have  my 
doubts. 

For  myself,  Cicero  has  been  something  of  an  edu-» 
cational  luxury.  I  have  sparingly  indulged  in  him. 
Still  he  had  many  good  qualities,  and  I  remember  that 
on  one  occasion  he  declared  that  he  had  saved  the  State. 
If  a  knowledge  of  Cicero's  life  and  writings  will,  in 
some  occult  way,  help  our  domestic  servants  and  our 
carpenters  to  save  the  State,  I  am  enthusiastically  in 
favour  of  letting  them  know  all  about  him  as  quickly 
as  possible.  But  I  have  my  doubts. 

I  am  quite  sure  that  it  cannot  be  either  to  their  own 
advantage,  or  for  the  welfare  of  the  State,  that  our 
domestic  servants  and  carpenters  shall  be  taught  a  few 
facts  about  Cicero,  and  smatterings  of  science,  mathe- 
matics, and  literature,  while  the  cookery  and  carpen- 
try in  working-class  homes  remain  in  their  present  mis- 
erable state. 

I  cordially  give  a  general  assent  to  your  dictum  that 
"no  country  in  the  long  run  suffers  an  economic  injury 
from  an  improvement  in  the  general  education  of  its 
population."  But  this  is  a  vague  and  abstract  propo- 
sition, whose  successful  working  lies  in  its  correct  ap- 
plication to  the  pressing  necessities  of  the  population, 
to  their  varied  mental  and  physical  capacities,  and  to 
their  individual  duties  to  the  State.  It  is  governed 
and  qualified  in  a  hundred  ways  that  educational  ex- 
perts never  seem  to  suspect. 

For  instance,  Friday's  education  had  been  deplor- 
ably neglected.  It  was  certainly  prudent  of  Robinsoi* 
Crusoe  to  educate  him  out  of  cannibalism  and  into 
Christianity.  But  Friday's  general  education  seems  to 
.have  been  untimely  cut  short  at  this  very  elementary 


12  Patriotism  and 

stage.  He  knew  as  little  about  Cicero  as  my  school- 
girl of  fourteen.  Any  facts  about  Cicero  that  Robin- 
son Crusoe  may  have  been  able  to  impart,  would  prob- 
ably have  tended  in  some  small  measure  to  quicken 
Friday's  mental  powers,  and  to  make  him  a  more  in- 
telligent companion.  Yet  I  question  whether  Robin- 
son Crusoe  would  have  been  wise  to  spend  much  time 
on  Friday's  education  in  matters  relating  to  Cicero. 
A  few  scattered  facts  would  certainly  have  been  of  no 
possible  use  to  Friday.  While  if  he  had  made  any 
approach  to  scholarship  in  this  and  kindred  subjects, 
the  cuisine  and  household  carpentry  of  the  island  would 
have  suffered  most  disastrously. 

Robinson  Crusoe  could  have  given  to  Friday  a  body 
of  collated  information  about  Cicero,  only  at  the  cost 
to  himself  of  much  labour  and  valuable  time.  Friday 
could  have  received  such  a  body  of  information  about 
Cicero  only  at  the  cost  of  much  labour  and  valuable 
time.  It  is  evident  that  if  the  pair  of  them  had  given 
any  considerable  amount  of  labour  and  time  to  Cicero, 
the  State  would  have  tottered.  On  Robinson  Crusoe's 
island,  the  principle  you  have  laid  down  would  have 
been  terribly  limited  in  its  application  by  the  prevail- 
ing conditions  and  circumstances. 

Your  dictum  is  that  "no  country  in  the  long  run 
suffers  an  economic  injury  from  an  improvement  in 
the  general  education  of  its  population."  By  general 
education  I  understand  you  to  mean,  knowledge  and 
learning  that  are  not  directly  concerned  with  the  daily 
occupation  of  the  individual,  or  with  his  duty  to  the 
State ;  knowledge  and  learning  which  are  indeed  largely 
apart  from,  and  have  no  traceable  connection  with  the 
occupation  of  the  individual,  or  with  his  duty  to  the 
State;  and  which  are  given  to  him  with  a  view  to  raise 


Popular  Education  13 

his  general  intellectual  status,  on  the  principle  that  is 
supposed  to  regulate  the  successful  aspersion  of  a  man's 
character  by  slander,  namely,  that  "if  you  throw  mud 
enough,  some  of  it  is  bound  to  stick." 

The  application  of  your  dictum  to  Robinson  Crusoe's 
island  seems  to  raise  a  few  provoking  questions,  such  as : 

(1)  What  amount  of  time  and  mental  energy  can 
Eobinson  Crusoe  afford  to  spare  for  Friday's  general 
education,  that  could  not  be  better  employed  for  the 
welfare  of  the  two  in  some  other  way? 

(2)  What  amount  of  time  and  energy  can  Friday 
afford  to  spare  for  the  purpose  of  being  generally  edu- 
cated, that  could  not  be  better  employed  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  two  in  some  other  way  ? 

(3)  Granting  unreservedly  that  it  is  highly  desir- 
able that  Friday's  intellectual  status  should  be  raised, 
and  that  all  his  mental  powers  should  be  fully  devel- 
oped— so  far  as  is  compatible  with  the  welfare  of  the 
State — how  far  is  Friday  capable  of  assimilating  in- 
struction beyond  that  which  relates  to  his  daily  work, 
and  his  duty  to  the  State?    What  is  Friday's  natural 
capacity  for  abstract  thought  ?    For  it  is  upon  the  de- 
gree of  natural  capacity  for  abstract  thought,  that  near- 
ly all  the  worth  and  profit  of  what  you  call  general 
education  depends. 

(4)  Might  not  the  island  suffer  a  very  grave  economic 
injury,  to  the  infinite  discredit  of  our  theory,  if  Fri- 
day's general  education  were  carried  outside  the  limits 
I  have  indicated — if,  for  instance,  Robinson  Crusoe 
in  a  frenzy  of  educational  zeal  were  to  insist  that  Fri- 
day, against  his  own  inclination  and  natural  capacity, 
should  learn  a  number  of  irrelevant  facts  about  Cicero, 
and  other  remote  matters  ? 

It  may  be  urged  that  our  conditions  in  England  do 


14  Patriotism  and 

not  offer  any  parallel  to  the  conditions  prevailing  on 
Eobinson  Crusoe's  island.  Sir,  for  a  long  age  to  come, 
this  island  of  ours,  like  Robinson  Crusoe's,  will  be  be- 
sieged by  many  iron  and  cruel  necessities,  and  it  will 
be  of  the  first  importance  to  us,  as  to  him,  so  to  regu- 
late and  husband  and  apportion  the  relative  expendi- 
ture of  our  physical  and  mental  energies,  as  to  obtain 
those  results  that  will  most  certainly  be  profitable  to 
the  State  as  a  whole,  and  will  help  to  build  it  upon  the 
surest  foundations.  And  with  this  end  in  view,  we 
should  give  the  masses  of  our  people,  not  that  educa- 
tion which  we  might  desire  for  them,  which  might  most 
fully  develop  all  their  mental  powers,  and  which  might 
be  most  profitable  to  many  of  them  individually,  but 
just  that  amount,  and  that  kind  of  very  unequal,  and 
very  varied  education  which  will  best  assure  the  safety 
of  the  State.  One  of  our  first  concerns  most  intimately 
connected  with  Popular  Education,  indeed,  a  main  part 
of  it,  should  be  to  see  that  all  the  common  work  that  is 
done  for  the  common  people,  shall  be  done  well  and 
honestly,  and  by  people  who  are  not  ashamed  of  doing 
it,  who  have  not  been  educated  away  from  it  and  are  not 
diverted  from  its  necessary  accomplishment  by  other 
aims  and  pursuits. 

I  gladly  recognize  that  there  are  clauses  in  your  bill 
which,  if  wisely  administered,  are  likely  to  bring  about 
some  improvement  in  the  direction  I  have  indicated. 
But  if  it  is  claimed  that,  up  to  the  present,  Popular 
Education  has  tended  towards  this  desirable  result,  I 
can  only  point  to  my  old  carpenter;  to  the  condition 
of  our  household  carpentry;  to  all  the  dreadful  objects 
that  desecrate  our  working-  and  middle-class  and  even 
upper-class  homes;  to  the  number  of  girls  of  fourteen 
who,  to  their  great  mental  distraction,  are  being  taught 


Popular  Education  15 

irrelevant  facts  about  Cicero  "before  they  have  been 
taught  plain  cookery ;  and  to  many  other  trades  and  call- 
ings necessary  to  the  daily  comfort  of  us  all,  in  which  the 
first  great  lesson  of  doing  thoroughly  and  honestly  one's 
own  individual  work  in  the  world,  has  been  left  un- 
taught, and  is  constantly  flouted;  in  which  a  terribly 
defective  education  in  one's  individual  work,  seems  to 
be  the  correlative  of  an  abortive  attempt  at  "general" 
education;  in  which  natural  aptitudes  and  abilities  are 
left  undeveloped,  and  carelessness,  neglect,  and  sloven- 
liness prevail ;  apparently  because  the  physical  or  men- 
tal energies  which  should  always  first  be  given  to  one's 
immediate  work  in  the  world,  have  been  drawn  off  to 
ineptitudes  and  wild  digressions. 

I  selected  domestic  carpentry  because  it  is,  as  I  said, 
a  basic  universal  industry,  which  affects  us  all  in  our 
homes.  I  do  not  say  that  Popular  Education  is  ac- 
countable for  all  the  bad  carpentry  that  is  done.  I  do 
say  that  concurrently  with  the  spread  of  Popular  Edu- 
cation, carpenters  generally  have  received  an  increas- 
ingly defective  education  in  their  own  craft.  It  can- 
not be  for  the  welfare  of  the  State  that  carpenters 
should  receive  a  "general"  education  that,  while  ad- 
mittedly it  does  not  directly  fit  them  for  the  exercise 
of  their  own  calling,  does  yet  permit,  and  perhaps  in- 
directly encourage,  a  very  casual,  perfunctory  knowl- 
edge, and  a  very  slovenly  practice  of  that  calling.  I  am 
not  grudging  the  carpenters  their  general  or  higher  edu- 
cation. I  am  asking  that  it  shall  be  made  quite  secon- 
dary and  auxiliary  to  a  thorough  mastery  of  their  own 
craft,  and  to  as  much  diligent  and  absorbing  practice  of 
that  craft  as  may  be  found  necessary  for  the  welfare 
of  the  State. 

Let  us  hope  that  the  past  and  present  disorder  is 


16  Patriotism  and 

merely  transitional — and  transitory.  And  let  me  again 
cordially  acknowledge  that  your  Education  Bill  allows 
and  encourages  many  improvements  in  these  matters. 

But  legislative  enactments  have  a  bad  habit  of  not 
producing  the  effects  for  which  they  are  designed,  and 
of  producing  a  number  of  indirect  consequences,  which 
are  often  obstructive  to  their  main  purpose.  Much  will 
depend  upon  the  instruments  who  work  it ;  much  more 
will  depend  upon  its  discriminate  adaptation  to  the 
enormous  mass  of  heterogeneous  humanity  which  is  to 
be  subjected  to  its  provisions. 

And  here  again  we  may  have  good  hope.  For  the 
great  bulk  of  the  raw  material  of  humanity  to  be 
brought  under  the  new  Education  Act  is  sound,  rough 
English  stock.  Every  day  brings  us  new  proofs  of  the 
magnificent  quality  of  its  fibre,  of  its  inexhaustible 
vigour  and  power  of  endurance. 

What  may  not  be  hoped  from  a  nation  that  casually 
throws-off,  as  a  bird  moults  a  feather,  heroes  in  mil- 
lions, Coeur-de-lions  in  hordes,  and  Sidneys  in  bat- 
talions ?  What  may  not  be  hoped  from  such  a  nation, 
if  only  it  is  rightly  trained,  disciplined,  and  led ;  every 
member  being  first  taught,  as  the  cardinal  maxim  of 
Popular  Education,  to  do  his  own  individual  work 
honestly,  and  with  all  his  might  ? 

Whatever  Popular  Education  has  taught  our  multi- 
tudes, however  many  and  great  the  benefits  it  has  be- 
stowed upon  them,  it  surely  has  not  up  to  the  present 
taught  them  this  first  great  lesson — witness  the  badly 
latched  door  that  is  intermittently  slamming  and  clat- 
tering as  I  write  this  letter,  and  that  leads  me  to  ask 
whether  some  of  the  time  and  energy  given  to  the 
general  and  higher  education  of  our  carpenters,  might 


Popular  Education  17 

not  be  more  profitably  spent  upon  special  problems  re- 
lating to  the  correct  adjustment  of  door  fastenings. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  general  education  does  raise 
the  level  of  intelligence  in  the  community,  and  in  many 
ways  add  to  their  pleasures — if  not  wholly  to  their 
well-being.  But  are  there  not  good  grounds  for  think- 
ing that  general  education  is  often  the  enemy  of  that 
thorough  special  education  in  our  individual  work  and 
duty  which  is  the  first  necessity  for  the  ultimate  welfare 
of  the  State?  Is  not  general  education  often  the  un- 
suspected enemy  of  good  craftsmanship?  It  is  cer- 
tainly the  constant  companion  of  much  bad  craftsman- 
ship. Does  not  "general"  education  often  turn  out  a 
very  poor  scholar  in  place  of  an  accomplished  work- 
man? 

Our  future  necessities  are  such  that  we  shall  be  far 
more  in  need  of  workmen  than  scholars.  We  have  at 
our  disposal  only  a  limited  amount  of  time,  of  physical 
energy,  and  of  mental  capacity.  There  is  pressing  need 
for  the  most  rigorous  economy  in  all  of  them.  How  can 
we  so  employ  and  apportion  them  as  to  get  the  best  re- 
sults for  the  State? 

Good  carpenters  are  one  of  the  primary  necessities 
of  any  society.  My  old  carpenter  was  produced  by  the 
simple  process  of  thoroughly  teaching  him  his  trade 
and  his  duty  to  his  neighbour,  while  he  was  very  young, 
and  then  leaving  him  to  get  his  higher  education  for 
himself.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  was  probably  doing 
twelve  hours  a  day  useful  work  for  the  State.  And  he 
lived  to  a  good  old  age. 

I  do  not  propose  to  revert  to  a  system  of  universal 
education  on  that  basis.  Any  child  with  quite  excep- 
tional mental  ability  should  be  given  an  opportunity 


18  Patriotism  and 

to  develop  it  in  any  way  that  may  most  be  useful  to  the 
State,  and  even  to  develop  it  quite  independently  of 
any  services  he  may  be  able  to  render  the  State.  Chil- 
dren of  mental  ability  considerably  above  the  average 
should  also  be  selected,  as  no  doubt  they  already  are, 
for  appropriate  higher  education.  For  unquestionably 
we  shall  be  amply  repaid  for  any  expenditure  we  may 
lavish  upon  them. 

Of  the  remaining  mass,  that  is  the  vast  majority  of 
children,  the  boys  should  be  carefully  divided  into 
groups,  according  to  their  indicated  capacity  for  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  physical  employment,  or  for  occupa- 
tions which  do  not  call  for  the  possession  of  much  gen- 
eral or  special  knowledge,  or  for  the  exercise  of  any 
conspicuous  mental  powers.  They  should  be  given  as 
much  general  education  as  would  be  almost  certain  to 
prove  useful  to  them  in  their  probable  occupation. 
They  should  be  given  ample  opportunities  for  higher 
education,  if  they  chose  to  avail  themselves  of  it.  But 
higher  education  should  not  be  forced  upon  any  of  them. 

All  the  boys  should  be  thoroughly  drilled  and  taught 
the  first  elements  of  soldiering,  just  enough  to  fit  them 
for  further  training  in  the  defence  of  their  country,  if 
that  dread  duty  should  be  forced  upon  them.  For  by 
the  neglect  of  this  obvious  part  of  Popular  Education, 
England  is  at  this  hour  pouring  out  her  children's  blood 
in  torrents  of  sacrifice,  which  may  prove  to  be  more  low- 
ering to  the  future  vitality  of  our  race  than  even  the 
cruel  and  hideous  factory  system. 

If  it  is  denied  that  some  measure  of  such  training 
will  be  required  of  us  in  future,  I  will  only  say  that 
as  the  stern  lesson  of  the  Boer  War  was  shouted  at  Eng- 
land's deaf  ears  in  vain,  so  in  vain  has  this  latter  and 
more  terrible  lesson  been  written  for  us  in  fire,  and 


Popular  Education  19 

tears,  and  blood  of  our  dearest  and  bravest.  In  vain  will 
you  bring  in  measures  of  Popular  Education.  Educate 
us  how  you  will.  Teach  us  what  you  please.  It  mat- 
ters not.  We  cannot  learn. 

For  granted  the  monstrous  impossibility  that  Ger- 
many should  win  this  war,  all  the  forces  of  civilization 
will  still  have  to  be  raised  against  her  in  ceaseless  in- 
surrection. And  granted  that  we  gain  a  decisive  vic- 
tory, we  and  our  present  Allies  shall  find  ourselves  the 
arbiters  and  chief  supervisors  of  the  destinies  of  forty- 
six  nations  and  communities,  each  with  its  own  separate 
aims,  ambitions,  jealousies,  and  intrigues.  Do  we  real- 
ize what  that  means  ? 

Doubtless  a  long  peace  will  ensue.  After  the  Israe- 
lites had  exhausted  themselves  and  their  neighbours  in 
a  bloody  struggle  "the  land  had  rest  for  forty  years." 
And  up  to  the  present,  this  seems  to  be  human  nature's 
limit  of  endurable  abstinence  from  fighting.  After  a 
great  war  humanity  always  promises  itself  the  millen- 
nium. But  this  time  we  say  the  millennium  is  assured, 
and  is  positively  within  sight.  There  it  lies,  smiling 
with  endless  peace  and  universal  brotherhood  and  hap- 
piness, as  soon  as  this  war  is  ended. 

If  a  watertight  League  of  Nations  can  be  devised, 
and  got  to  work,  it  will  tend  to  promote  immediate 
peace,  and  may  possibly  secure  it  for — shall  we  say 
forty  years?  Is  Germany  to  come  in?  Do  we  know 
so  little  of  human  nature,  as  not  to  foresee  that  im- 
mediately there  will  be  currents  of  separate  interest, 
jealousies,  intrigues,  disruptions,  probably  leading  to 
two  main  divided  parties  of  nations;  not  necessarily 
leading  to  immediate  war,  but  surely  emphasizing  the 
necessity  of  keeping  some  body  of  armed  force  ?  Even 
if  Germany  were  left  out,  the  same  conditions  of  af- 


20  Patriotism  and 

fairs  would  be  brought  about  in  the  course  of  time.  In 
any  case,  England  proposes  to  take  a  leading  part  in 
overlooking  the  destinies  of  forty-six  nations  and  com- 
munities, all  with  their  own  separate  and  conflicting 
interests  and  ambitions;  and,  if  necessary,  to  enforce 
them  to  keep  the  peace.  How  is  that  to  be  done  with- 
out holding  some  considerable  national  armament  al- 
ways in  readiness? 

Doubtless,  too,  the  ascendancy  of  democracy  will,  on 
the  whole,  tend  towards  peace  in  the  immediate  future. 
Never  again  will  a  blasphemous  and  murderous  cdbotin 
have  it  in  his  power  to  nod  and  devastate  the  wide  earth 
for  his  glory.  But  democracies  will  fight  when  they 
press  upon  each  other  and  their  interests  clash.  And 
this  is  likely  to  happen  more  and  more  frequently  as 
the  fertile  spaces  of  the  world  become  more  and  more 
occcupied. 

Again,  democracies  are  apt  to  become  inflamed 
against  each  other  for  no  very  wise  reasons.  It  might 
be  well  for  our  working  classes  to  note  that  a  great 
number  of  the  Russian  proletariat  seem  to  be  inspired 
with  a  greater  hatred  of  England  than  of  Germany. 

Granted  that  a  forty  years'  peace  is  probable,  who  can 
ensure  it  ?  Almost  every  wide  forecast  made  before  and 
after  the  war  was  proved  to  be  wrong;  in  most  cases 
wildly,  absurdly,  and  perniciously  wrong.  Who  can 
foretell  the  disposition  of  power,  the  relations  of  na- 
tions towards  each  other,  the  shape  of  large  events,  the 
drift  of  the  world's  affairs  in  twenty  years'  time  from 
to-day?  That  is,  at  the  time  when  the  boys  who  are 
now  to  be  brought  under  the  new  Education  Act,  will 
be  approaching  the  prime  of  early  manhood,  and  will 
be  most  fit  to  render  active  service  to  the  State.  If 
anyone  had  told  us  twenty  years  ago,  that  of  the  boys 


Popular  Education  21 

then  flocking  to  our  Board  schools,  every  one  would  be 
conscripted  in  a  last  desperate  necessity  to  offer  his 
life  for  his  country,  we  should  have  laughed  at  him 
and  counted  him  a  madman.  We  did  laugh  at  those 
who  warned  us  of  our  peril. 

If  one  could  gain  the  fulfilment  of  a  single  wish,  it 
would  surely  be  that  not  one  of  the  little  urchins,  who 
now  and  in  the  years  to  come,  will  troop  into  our  schools, 
in  quiet  village  streets  where  rooks  are  cawing,  and  in 
black,  misty  towns  where  factories  and  furnaces  are 
roaring — that  not  one  of  these  little  urchins  should 
be  called  upon  to  shed  a  drop  of  his  blood,  or  to  spill 
the  blood  of  his  fellow  man ;  that  no  occasion  may  arise 
for  them  to  take  up  the  stern  duty  which  their  elder 
brothers  and  fathers  are  now  fulfilling  with  such  match- 
less valour  and  fortitude.  And  indeed  we  have  good 
reason  to  hope  that  the  generation  which  will  come  un- 
der your  Education  Act,  will  have  very  small  oppor- 
tunity for  the  active  practice  of  war. 

But  are  we  sure  ?  In  the  vast  complexity  of  human 
affairs,  no  matter  what  victory  we  may  gain,  is  it 
certain  that  the  war  may  not  leave  large  and  secret 
legacies  of  irreconcilable  dissension  amongst  the  na- 
tions? Who  can  say  what  may  be  the  situation  and 
the  necessities  of  England  in  twenty  years — that  again 
it  may  not  be  one  of  extreme  peril  ?  It  is  to  meet  the 
exigencies  and  demands  of  1940-1970  that  you  are 
educating  our  children  to-day.  After  the  war,  all  may 
look  fair  for  a  cloudless  peace.  But  the  thunder-clap 
so  often  bursts  upon  the  nations  from  a  clear  sky.  In 
any  case,  if  England  continues  to  hold  a  high  and  lead- 
ing position,  she  will  find  herself  largely  responsible 
for  looking  after  forty-six  nations  and  communities. 
And  if  her  voice  is  to  have  any  authority,  there  must 


22  Patriotism  and 

be  behind  it  the  power  to  enforce  her  decisions.  Hav- 
ing failed  to  insure  our  house,  wouldn't  it  be  well,  now 
that  it  is  almost  burnt  down,  to  insure  our  new  house, 
even  though  there  may  no  present  prospect  of  another 
big  fire? 

Therefore,  even  with  the  millennium  dawning  some- 
where just  behind  the  hills,  I  advance  the  quite  mon- 
strous proposal  that  all  our  boys  should  be  thoroughly 
drilled,  and  taught  the  rudiments  of  soldiering — just 
enough  to  make  it  a  fairly  easy  matter  to  fit  them,  if 
called  upon,  to  take  up  arms  quickly  for  the  defence 
of  their  country.  I  urge  that  this  be  made  a  part  of 
Popular  Education.  I  am  aware  that  I  am  asking  for 
something  ridiculous,  outrageous,  impossible.  May  the 
future  prove  it  so ! 

I  will  say  but  one  word  as  to  the  good  results  upon 
the  health  of  the  boys,  and  as  to  the  value  of  the  dis- 
cipline, and  the  habit  of  prompt  obedience  which  would 
follow  such  training.  Everyone  knows  the  worth  of  an 
old  sailor  or  an  old  soldier  when  work  has  to  be  done, 
or  trust  has  to  be  reposed.  Discipline  and  prompt  obe- 
dience are  the  saviours  of  the  nation  in  times  of  war, 
as  we  are  finding  out.  They  are  of  sovereign  value 
in  times  of  peace — if  we  would  but  learn  it.  To  obtain 
them,  to  make  them  instinctive  and  operative  amongst 
all  our  boys,  it  would  be  worth  while  to  make  some 
sacrifice  of  what  is  called  higher  education. 

With  regard  to  our  girls  every  one  must  gratefully 
acknowledge  the  splendid  response  that  they  have  made 
to  the  national  call  upon  them  to  take  up  new  and 
difficult  occupations.  And  it  is  probable  that  much  of 
their  alertness  and  varied  ability  may  be  placed  to  the 
credit  of  Popular  Education.  It  is  likely  that  the  war 
will  change  in  many  ways  the  tastes  and  aims  and  out- 


Popular  Education  23 

look  of  English  girls,  and  will  tend  to  develop  new 
types.  But  until  they  can  persuade  Nature  to  release 
them  from  the  primal  curse  of  Eve;  the  very  large  ma- 
jority of  our  girls  must,  for  very  safety  and  surety  of 
the  continuance  of  our  race,  accept  the  career  of  wife- 
hood  and  motherhood.  And  with  this  career  inevitahly 
marked  out  for  them,  they  should  all  he  thoroughly 
taught,  as  early  as  possihle,  the  very  fine  arts  of  cook- 
ery, needlework,  household  management,  the  care  of 
children,  and  other  domestic  accomplishments,  together 
with  a  rough  general  knowledge  of  medicine,  and  the 
elements  of  physiology.  All  "general"  education  should 
be  postponed  until  these  are  thoroughly  learned  as  the 
foundation  of  a  girl's  education. 

Have  not  these  necessary  domestic  accomplishments 
been  more  and  more  increasingly  neglected  during  the 
years  that  Popular  Education  has  been  in  force  ?  Can 
you  find  in  England  to-day  one  girl  who  takes  a  delight 
in  needlework,  for  fifty  that  could  be  found  a  few 
generations  ago  ?  Needlework  is  an  art  of  the  greatest 
use  and  also  of  the  greatest  ornament  in  the  home. 
Many  other  indoor  activities  of  kindred  usefulness 
have  been  neglected,  or  altogether  cast  aside. 

I  do  not  say  there  have  not  been  many  compensations. 
But  when,  taking  only  two  instances  out  of  a  hundred, 
we  find  that  such  primary,  necessary,  and  universal  oc- 
cupations as  household  carpentry  and  needlework  are 
in  a  state  of  neglect  and  decay,  may  we  not  be  sure  that 
there  is  something  vicious  in  our  system  of  Popular 
Education?  Are  we  not  confirmed  in  our  suspicions 
that  "general"  education  is  often  the  enemy  of  that 
special  and  more  important  education  which  prepares 
and  fits  us  to  do  our  own  individual  work  with  all  dili- 
gence, honesty,  care,  and  thoroughness  ?  And,  with  the 


24  Patriotism  and  Education 

greatest  respect,  may  I  be  allowed  to  enlarge  your  dic- 
tum on  the  matter,  and  make  it  read  as  follows: 

"No  country  in  the  long  run  suffers  an  economic  in- 
jury from  an  improvement  in  the  general  education  of 
its  population — provided  that  the  thorough  training  of 
its  members  in  their  individual  work,  and  in  their 
duty  to  the  State,  is  first  made  secure." 

I  leave  the  matter  to  your  careful  and  searching 
judgment. 


CHAPTEE  II 

(April — May  1918) 

POPULAB  EDUCATION  AS  IT  BEVEALS  ITSELF  IN  OTJB 

PLAY 

The  Higher  Education  of  our  masses  at  picture  palaces  and 
popular  theatres — Its  effect  upon  conduct  and  character — Grad- 
ual disappearance  of  Shakespeare  from  the  British  stage — Dull 
imbecility  and  licentiousness  of  our  popular  entertainments- 
Hideous  exhibition  by  chorus  girls — "Then  you  think  I'm  a 
whore" — Popular  Education  and  the  quality  of  our  stage  dia- 
logue— Slang  and  its  functions — The  orgy  at  the  beginning  of 
the  war — The  bishops  get  fidgetty — Rosy  Twaddle,  Holy  Twad- 
dle, and  Revue — Advice  to  bishops  and  clergymen  as  advertisers 
of  plays — The  wisdom  of  good  tomfoolery — Actors  and  actresses, 
scullery  maids,  and  dungcart  emptiers — Children  on  our  stage — 
Discouragement  of  Shakespeare  by  new  Education  Act — Virtual 
prohibition  of  five  of  his  most  popular  plays — Our  greatest  ac- 
tresses educated  on  and  by  the  stage — Early  training  in  their 
craft  necessary  to  make  good  actors  and  carpenters — French  mid- 
dle classes  sound  and  acute  critics  of  plays — Children  with  a 
native  talent  for  the  stage — Child  supernumeraries — Many  of 
them  better  in  the  theatre  than  at  home — Evils  and  abuses  of 
the  stage  caused  and  multiplied  by  zealous  ignorant  bigots — Invi- 
tation to  them  to  abstain  from  pecking  and  kicking  at  the  the- 
atre— Connection  between  Popular  Education  and  present  de- 
gradation of  our  stage — Elizabethan  audiences — Their  lack  of 
Popular  Education  and  consequent  ability  to  understand  and  en- 
joy Shakespeare — Shakespeare's  real  home  the  English  theatre—- 
Appeal to  Minister  of  Education  to  aid  in  getting  him  back 
there. 


HAVING  tested  our  present  system  of  Popular 
Education  by  the  quality  of  the  workmanship  it 
seems  to  produce,  if  not  in  all  occupations,  yet  in  some 

25 


26  Patriotism  and 

of  the  most  important,  we  may  go  on  to  apply  to  it 
another  and  even  surer  test.  We  may  ask  what  kind 
of  play  and  amusement  does  it  encourage,  or  allow  our 
multitudes  to  provide  for  themselves  in  their  leisure 
hours  ? 

There  is  no  surer  guide  to  the  general  level  of  edu- 
cation in  a  people,  to  their  mental  hahits,  tastes,  and 
native  capacities,  their  moral  and  intellectual  fibre, 
than  the  form  and  quality  of  their  popular  amusements. 
Here,  even  more  than  in  their  daily  work,  they  betray 
themselves.  For  their  work  is  mainly  forced  upon 
them;  their  play  they  choose  for  themselves.  You  can 
nearly  always  sum  up  a  man  if  you  know  what  amuses 
him. 

While  you  are  preparing  to  give  our  masses  increas- 
ing doses  of  "general"  and  "higher"  education,  they 
are  already  giving  themselves  the  main  part  of  their 
"higher"  education  at  picture  palaces,  music  halls,  and 
theatres,  from  cheap  fiction,  and  from  the  daily  and 
weekly  papers.  I  mean  that  part  of  their  education 
which  does  really  occupy  and  exercise  their  minds, 
which  inflames  their  emotions,  shapes  their  ideals,  il- 
lumines and  colours  their  views  of  life,  and  guides 
their  daily  conduct.  Every  one  of  us,  according  to  his 
tastes,  inclinations,  or  natural  mental  capacity,  gives 
to  himself,  or  wins  for  himself,  nearly  all  the  education 
that  is  operative  upon  his  life  and  conduct.  And  this 
secondary  education  at  films  and  music  halls,  and  in 
sixpenny  novels,  which  is  the  education  our  people 
give  themselves,  when  they  spend  their  own  money  in- 
stead of  the  nation's — this  secondary  education  is  far 
more  operative  upon  conduct,  and  is  of  far  more  im- 
portance in  moulding  their  characters  than  the  greater 


Popular  Education  27 

part  of  what  you  are  teaching  them  in  your  schools. 
It  is  more  operative  and  more  stimulating  because  it 
instantly  and  strongly  stirs  their  emotions,  and  engages 
their  sympathies.  It  satisfies  their  natural  tastes,  and 
is  therefore  digested  and  assimilated  without  effort. 
It  is  far  more  vivid  and  real  and  alive  to  the  great  mass 
of  our  population,  than  the  courses  that  you  are  giving 
them  in  your  continuation  classes. 

It  is  obviously  and  necessarily  on  the  level  of  their 
mental  capacity.  It  is  indeed  the  best  and  surest 
gauge  of  the  level  of  their  average  mental  capacity. 
And  while  much  of  the  "higher"  education  that  you 
are  giving  to  our  populace  wanders  out  of  the  minds  of 
most  of  them,  or  is  tucked  away  as  mere  dead  fact, 
this  secondary  education  which  they  are  giving  them- 
selves, and  which  they  do  really  assimilate,  builds  up 
their  permanent  mental  fabric,  informs  their  character, 
and  prompts  their  habits  and  conduct.  And  because 
this  secondary  education,  which  they  provide  at  their 
own  expense,  is  so  potent  and  absorbing,  so  possessive 
of  their  thoughts — f  or  this  reason  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  much  of  your  secondary  education  is  likely  to  be 
wasted  upon  the  great  mass  of  them.  When  they  have 
been  well  prepared  for  their  primary  duty  of  doing 
thoroughly  their  own  individual  work  in  the  world — • 
work  which  in  the  coming  generation  must  necessarily 
be  strenuous  and  exhausting  to  their  general  powers  of 
body  and  mind — have  the  overwhelming  majority  of 
them  a  surplus  of  time  and  mental  energy  to  indulge 
very  largely  in  both  kinds  of  secondary  education — • 
the  secondary  education  which  you  are  forcing  upon 
them,  and  the  secondary  education  which  you  may 
be  sure  they  will  amply  provide  for  themselves  in  the 


28  Patriotism  and 

form  of  amusement  ?  It  is  this  latter  kind  of  secondary 
education  which  will  have  by  far  the  greater  influence 
upon  their  character  and  conduct. 

To  build  up  the  character  of  its  citizens  to  a  high 
level,  to  train  them  in  right  conduct,  is  surely  the  su- 
preme aim  of  Popular  Education. 

The  point  I  wish  to  make  is,  that  with  this  supreme 
aim  in  view,  it  is  far  more  important  for  the  welfare 
of  the  State,  and  far  more  beneficent  to  the  masses 
themselves,  to  give  a  wise  direction  and  wise  encourage- 
ment to  the  secondary  education  which  the  people  pro- 
vide for  themselves,  than  to  enforce  upon  them  all 
a  secondary  education  which  is  largely  foreign  to  their 
tastes,  which  in  many  cases  draws  off  mental  energies 
that  could  be  better  employed,  which  is  often  outside 
the  possible  sphere  of  their  activities,  and  will  be 
either  quickly  forgotten,  or  left  to  rust  in  them  unused. 
Lest  I  should  be  mistaken,  I  repeat  that  I  am  most  will- 
ing, nay,  anxious,  that  opportunities  for  the  highest 
education,  and  for  winning  the  highest  honours,  should 
be  given  to  every  child — so  far  as  this  is  consistent 
with  the  general  welfare  of  the  State.  But  I  reaffirm 
the  immense  comparative  importance  of  that  secondary 
education  which  the  people  provide  for  themselves  in 
the  way  of  amusement,  and  as  occupation  for  their 
leisure  hours. 

I  will  merely  glance  at  the  inordinate  amount  of 
time  which  in  years  past  our  populace  wasted  in  look- 
ing upon,  and  betting  upon,  games  at  football.  Years 
before  the  war  this  habit  was  scourged  in  memorable 
words  by  the  manliest  of  English  writers  and  poets, 
whose  stern  reproof  was  denounced  at  the  time.  But 
his  whip  was  badly  needed  on  the  slouching  shoulders 
that  have  since  been  pulled  to  "Attention"  by  the  angry 


Popular  Education  29 

arrest  of  war,  and  should  never  again  be  allowed  to  re- 
lax into  sloth  and  lethargy. 

It  is,  however,  when  we  survey  the  evening  amuse- 
ments of  the  English  people  during  the  last  ten  or 
fifteen  years,  that  we  get  a  true  measure  of  the  appar- 
ent and  transparent  value  of  our  present  system  of  Pop- 
ular Education. 

May  I  impress  upon  your  most  serious  attention,  the 
startling  fact  that  concurrently  with  the  wider  spread 
of  Popular  Education,  Shakespeare  has  become  more 
and  more  unpopular  on  the  English  stage;  until  now, 
for  some  seasons  past,  only  occasional  odd,  scattered 
performances  of  his  plays  have  been  given  in  out-of-the- 
way  places,  for  the  most  part  by  actors  quite  untrained 
in  the  delivery  of  verse.  However  laudable  in  itself 
it  may  be  to  give  a  few  performances  of  Shakespeare 
in  the  Waterloo  Road,  it  is  in  reality  the  bitterest 
comment  on  the  general  taste  of  London  playgoers,  and 
a  glaring  exposure  of  our  national  contempt  for  Shake- 
speare on  the  stage.  When  that  is  all  we  can  offer,  we 
merely  publish  and  emphasize  the  poverty  and  insol^ 
vency  of  our  Shakespearean  drama.  Our  theatres  both 
in  London  and  the  provinces  have  never  been  so  crowded 
and  so  prosperous  as  since  the  outbreak  of  war.  Yet 
since  the  earlier  months,  when  a  few  productions  of 
his  war  plays  had  short,  unsuccessful  runs,  Shakespeare 
has  been  practically  absent  from  our  national  stage. 

He  has  been  absent  from  the  English  stage.  But 
he  has  not  been  absent  from  the  German  stage.  In  the 
year  before  the  war  there  were  sixty-six  companies 
playing  Shakespeare  in  Germany,  and  in  Berlin  eight 
theatres  put  up  twenty-five  different  Shakespearean 
productions;  while  1,104  representations  were  given 
of  "The  Merchant  of  Venice"  alone.  Our  English 


30  Patriotism  and 

record  for  that  year  is  too  contemptible  to  set  down. 
Our  record  since  the  war,  compared  with  Germany's, 
would  prohably  prove  to  be  equally  contemptible,  equal- 
ly shameful  to  us,  and  equally  dishonouring  to  Shake- 
speare. May  not  Germany  well  fling  at  us  the  taunt 
that  "if  music  hall  and  cinematograph  England"  had 
been  possessed  with  the  spirit  of  Shakespeare,  we  should 
long  ago  have  won  the  war  ? 

Shakespeare  is  banished  from  the  English  stage.  As 
Popular  Education  has  become  universally  operative, 
Shakespeare  has  gradually  disappeared,  and  is  now 
making  an  inglorious,  unobserved,  and  possibly  final 
exit. 

Enter  Popular  Education.  Exit  Shakespeare  from 
our  theatres,  unheeded  and  despised.  That  is  an  in- 
dictment of  our  present  system  of  Popular  Education, 
so  severe  in  its  implications,  that  no  further  evidence 
is  necessary.  It  is  conclusive  in  itself. 

May  I  dwell,  with  some  insistence,  upon  the  fact  that 
your  new  Education  Bill  is  introduced  at  the  very  mo- 
ment when  the  English  populace,  brought  up  under 
our  present  system,  and  taught  and  nourished  thereby, 
has  finally  dismissed  Shakespeare  from  being  their  chief 
popular  educator  and  entertainer  in  his  own  legitimate 
class-room — the  theatre?  Eor  three  hundred  years  he 
has  gloriously  filled  that  post,  and  he  is  contemptuous- 
ly dismissed  as  soon  as  Popular  Education  has  had  time 
to  influence  and  inform  the  masses,  and  very  pointedly, 
just  as  you  bring  in  your  new  Education  Bill. 

Is  this  an  unlucky  coincidence?  "Not  at  all.  It  is 
what  Goldsmith's  bear-leader  called  a  "concatenation  ac- 
cordingly." Fifty  years  ago,  before  the  advent  of 
Popular  Education,  our  middle-class  young  men  in 
London  and  the  large  towns,  saw  a  great  deal  of 


Popular  Education  31 

Shakespeare  in  the  theatre,  studied  him  there,  under- 
stood him,  were  greatly  amused  by  him,  could  quote 
him  largely,  and  could  intelligently  compare  the  varied 
renderings  of  his  great  speeches  by  different  actors. 
In  those  days,  every  large  town  in  England  could  see 
six  or  eight,  perhaps  a  dozen,  plays  of  Shakespeare 
every  season,  together  with  Sheridan's  comedies  and 
other  sterling  stuff.  Many  of  the  parts  were  very 
badly  performed,  but  there  was  always  some  good  act- 
ing by  actors  who  could  speak  blank  verse,  and  knew 
that  it  had  to  be  delivered  in  a.  different  way  from 
modern  slipshod  slang.  In  places  like  Manchester 
and  Edinburgh  quite  remarkably  good  Shakespearean 
acting  was  frequently  to  be  seen.  The  little  city  of 
Exeter,  in  one  season  of  the  seventies,  saw  more  Shake- 
epearean  acting  than  London  has  seen  for  the  last  two 
years.  Sprung  from  these  old  traditions,  Henry  Irving, 
before  Popular  Education  had  begun  to  guide  the  taste 
of  the  masses  in  the  theatre,  started  his  series  of  memor- 
able Shakespearean  revivals  at  the  Lyceum,  and  car- 
ried them  on  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  under  a  regime 
of  universal  Popular  Education,  Shakespeare  was  grad- 
ually waning  and  dying.  And  now  Popular  Education 
has  done  its  perfect  work,  and  Shakespeare  is  dead 
in  the  only  place  where  he  will  ever  exercise  a  fruitful 
influence  upon  the  English  masses — the  English  the- 
atre. 

Shakespeare  is  dead  in  the  English  theatre,  but  he  is 
still  alive  in  the  German  theatre — even  during  the  war, 
so  far  as  one  can  learn. 

Shakespeare  is  dead  in  the  English  theatre,  and  with 
him  are  dead  our  hopes  of  a  living  modern  intellectual 
drama.  For  he  was  our  leader  and  standard-bearer. 
He  explored  for  us  English  character  at  its  sources, 


32  Patriotism  and 

and  held  before  us  its  best  and  truest  and  most  en- 
during types;  he  gave  us  to  translate  into  terms  of 
modern  life,  stupendous  displays  of  all  the  permanent 
passions  and  moods  of  humanity  in  great  and  full  de- 
ploy; he  taught  us,  not  the  cheap  tricks  of  the  play- 
wright, but  the  sovereign  art  of  the  dramatist.  We 
have  lost  our  great  model,  and  with  him  our  craft  has 
almost  disappeared.  We  cannot  hope  for  a  worthy  Eng- 
lish national  drama  until  Shakespeare  is  restored  to 
his  place,  as  its  perpetual  fount  of  inspiration,  and 
source  of  intellectual  and  spiritual  energy. 

Shakespeare  is  dead  in  the  English  theatre.  The 
average  playgoer  to-day  has  not  enough  knowledge  of 
human  nature  to  recognize  the  enduring  truth  of 
Shakespeare's  characters;  not  enough  humour  to  enjoy 
Shakespeare's  rich  comedy ;  not  enough  serious  purpose 
in  life  to  delight  in  Shakespeare's  tragedy;  not  enough 
patience  to  listen  to  Shakespeare's  speeches ;  not  enough 
mental  energy  to  understand  them;  not  enough  educa- 
tion to  take  pleasure  in  Shakespeare's  poetry,  and  wit, 
and  the  beauty  and  wisdom  of  his  dialogue.  To  the 
average  playgoer  to-day  Shakespeare  is  largely  incom- 
prehensible— a  bore,  a  nuisance,  an  affliction.  And 
this  after  fifty  years  of  Popular  Education!  The 
average  playgoers  of  fifty  years  ago  did  take  some 
pleasure  in  seeing  Shakespeare,  did  to  some  extent 
understand  him,  had  some  considerable  knowledge  of 
him,  and  were  not  bored  and  baffled  by  him. 

Shakespeare  is  dead  in  the  English  theatre.  Who 
or  what  has  taken  his  place? 

If  I  had  a  mortal  enmity  against  some  man  of  good 
sense  and  sound  education,  who  by  good  fortune  knew 
nothing  of  our  present  English  theatres  and  music  halls, 
I  would  mercilessly  sentence  him  to  visit  nightly  the 


Popular  Education  33 

entertainments  that  are  taking  place  there.  I  would 
suppose  him  to  have  no  knowledge  of  what  he  was 
going  to  see,  and  I  would  set  him  to  watch  the  audience 
carefully,  and  to  note  what  were  the  things  that  most 
interested  and  amused  them,  the  things  that  moved 
them  to  raptures  of  applause.  And  I  would  then  ask 
him  what  kind  of  Popular  Education  the  masses  of  them 
must  have  received,  and  which  had  resulted  in  their 
setting  up  for  themselves  such  standards  of  amusement. 

I  wish  I  could  induce  you,  sir,  in  the  interests  of 
Popular  Education,  to  visit  our  music  halls  and  jnost 
popular  theatres.  Let  me  again  affirm  that  it  is  here 
where  our  masses  are  getting  the  education  that  is  most 
operative  upon  their  daily  life,  and  conduct,  and  char- 
acter. 

In  one  or  two  of  our  better  theatres  you  would  find 
an  occasional  play  or  sketch  in  which  we  can  take 
pride,  as  being  not  merely  empty  amusement,  false  sen- 
timent, crude  sensation,  or  veiled  sensuality.  Amongst 
all  our  thousands  of  nightly  entertainments,  it  would  be 
strange  if  we  could  not  show  some  glimmers  of  serious 
wit  and  wisdom.  You  would  find  much  harmless  fun 
and  nonsense.  So  far,  good;  inasmuch  as  they  ease 
overtaxed  minds  and  bodies,  and  perhaps  in  some  cases 
afford  a  welcome  relief  from  your  continuation  classes. 
Provided  fine  and  serious  work  is  being  done  and  seen 
in  the  theatre,  I  am  wholly  in  favour  of  giving  the 
masses  large  refreshing  draughts  of  harmless  fun  and 
nonsense. 

How  wise  is  good  tomfoolery,  how  healthful,  how  life- 
giving!  But  it  must  be  good  tomfoolery,  that  does 
really  ease  the  mind,  and  does  not  drug  and  besot,  and 
dull  the  faculties  to  the  perception  of  what  is  of  value 
and  meaning  in  life. 


34:  Patriotism  and 

I  think,  sir,  that  if  you,  in  your  office  as  Minister  of 
Education,  were  to  make  constant  visits  to  our  theatres 
and  music  halls,  you  would  find  that  the  bulk,  the  sta- 
ple, of  the  education  which,  in  the  absence  of  any  wise 
government  encouragement  of  this  kind  of  higher  edu- 
cation, the  people  are  there  providing  for  themselves, 
is  mostly  of  a  vulgar  and  banal  sort,  tending  greatly 
to  their  intellectual  and  spiritual  degradation. 

There  is  very  little  outward  indecency ;  though  I  have 
heard  a  blazing  popular  comedian  deliver  lines  of  ill- 
concealed  filthiness,  for  which  his  hourly  rate  of  pay 
was  probably  ten  times  as  much  as  you  receive  for  su- 
perintending the  education  of  the  kingdom.  But  un- 
veiled indecency  is  very  rare.  There  is  very  much  less 
of  it  than  there  was  fifty  years  ago.  In  the  lower 
grades  of  entertainment  there  is  undoubtedly  a  good 
deal  of  improvement.  Our  lowest  kinds  of  entertain- 
ment have  become  more  decorous,  less  frankly  in- 
decent, but  probably  more  essentially  vulgar  and  mean- 
ingless: on  the  whole,  perhaps  lees  amusing.  The 
higher  forms  of  drama,  everything  that  could  give 
mental  exhilaration  and  intellectual  enjoyment,  every- 
thing that  could  tend  to  encourage  a  great  and  serious 
spirit  in  the  nation,  have  been  almost  swept  away  from 
our  stage.  Though  under  stress,  we  are  splendidly 
showing  that  this  great  and  serious  spirit  is  still  dwell- 
ing in  us. 

The  bulk  and  staple  of  our  middle-class  and  lower 
middle-class  entertainments  are  largely  compact  of  dull 
mediocrity,  banality,  tawdry  sentiment,  rank  sensation, 
horribly  vulgar  sensual  suggestion,  and  sheer  imbecil- 
ity. Frank  riotous  indecency  would,  in  many  cases, 
be  more  tolerable,  for  it  would  at  least  have  a  savour 


Popular  Education  35 

of  vital  human  nature,  even  if  a  rank,  disagreeable 
savour. 

When  the  war  had  been  in  progress  for  long  over 
two  years,  and  we  were  in  deadly  grapple  for  our 
lives,  I  saw  at  a  West  End  theatre  a  large  troupe  of 
chorus  girls,  all  uniformed  as  men,  in  tightly-fitting 
coats,  cut  short  with  little  flaps,  so  as  to  display  the 
least  attractive  part  of  their  bodies,  and  set  off  with 
other  items  of  man's  attire  in  garish  colours;  the 
whole  costume  being  a  pattern  and  model  of  vile,  ugly, 
senseless,  bad  taste.  The  'girls  had  been  drilled  to  per- 
form in  unison  a  series  of  quite  meaningless  operations 
and  evolutions,  waving  their  arms,  lifting  their  legs, 
placing  their  bodies  in  ridiculous  ungraceful  attitudes, 
and  sometimes  flaunting  unconsciously  that  terribly 
conspicuous  and  least  attractive  part  of  their  bodies 
which  the  costume  seemed  chiefly  designed  to  "exploit." 
The  hideous  exhibition  was  accompanied  by  music  that 
could  only  be  described  as  appropriate  to  it.  I  had 
come  into  the  theatre  reading  of  horrible  battle  carnage 
in  Flanders.  My  heart  sank  within  me,  and  I  hurried 
away  from  this  more  dreadful  scene. 

That  sickening  masquerade  of  idiocy  and  bad  tastq 
had  cost  some  thousands  of  pounds  to  "produce."  It 
is  a  not  unfair  sample  of  what  has  been  a  staple  of 
English  amusement  at  many  of  our  popular,  and  at 
some  of  our  most  fashionable,  theatres  for  many  years 
past.  Many  millions  of  money  have  been  wasted 
merely  to  degrade  and  hebetate  the  playgoing  public, 
and  to  make  them  unfit  to  understand  Shakespeare, 
and  whatever  might  give  them  intellectual  delight  in 
drama.  A  dozen  years  before  the  war,  I  pointed  out 
that  the  money  so  spent  would  have  bought  us  an  en- 


36  Patriotism  and 

tire  fleet.  It  would  have  gone  far  towards  raising 
that  extra  army  corps  or  two,  whereby  Lord  French 
might  have  saved  Lille. 

The  Lord  Chamberlain  licenses  the  prodigal  display 
of  this  and  kindred  idiocy,  and  until  lately  has  for- 
bidden Sophocles,  Ibsen,  Maeterlinck,  and  Brieux.  The 
press,  many  of  the  leading  London  daily  papers,  almost 
invariably  approve  this  style  of  entertainment,  praise 
it  lavishly  in  terms  of  sympathy  and  affection,  rarely 
condemn  even  its  most  vicious  excesses,  and  judge  it  by 
a  standard  that  leaves  no  hope  for  any  serious  modern 
drama  to  spring  up  amongst  us. 

If  I  can  persuade  you,  sir,  as  I  hope  I  may  (seeing 
how  intimately  this  matter  is  connected  with  Popular 
Education) — if  I  can  persuade  you  to  visit  our  popular 
places  of  entertainment,  I  will  ask  you  to  take  particu- 
lar note  of  the  style  and  quality  of  the  dialogue  that 
is  spoken  on  our  stage,  not  only  in  these  pieces,  but  in 
those  that  have  a  dramatic  form.  It  is  to  be  always 
remembered  that  whatever  success  may  be  justly  due 
to  dresses,  scenery,  and  other  legitimate  aids  to  our 
enjoyment  in  the  theatre — it  is  to  be  remembered  that 
it  is  only  the  actual  dialogue  that  gives  permanent 
worth  and  value  to  a  play.  By  his  dialogue  alone  a 
dramatist  lives;  by  its  vigour,  precision,  simplicity, 
brilliancy,  or  fitness  to  the  character  and  the  situation. 
Though,  to  obtain  success  in  the  theatre,  the  dramatist 
must  have  many  other  qualities  and  accomplishments. 

What  is  the  kind  and  quality  of  the  average  dialogue 
that  is  spoken  on  the  English  stage  to-day?  Here  I 
hope  you  will  allow  that  Popular  Education  is  directly 
and  crucially  concerned.  Eor  surely  if  its  effects  are 
visible  and  measurable  anywhere,  it  will  be  in  our 
popular  theatres,  by  watching  what  modes  of  talk, 


Popular  Education  37 

what  kind  of  dialogue  are  most  relished  by  the  au- 
dience; what  they  tolerate,  what  they  endure,  what 
they  reject. 

We  have  seen  that  they  now  utterly  reject  Shake- 
speare, though  until  lately  they  have  allowed  him  to 
bore  them  mildly,  when  he  has  been  smothered  up  in 
irrelevant  scenery,  gorgeous  dresses,  music,  dances,  and 
processions.  To  take  a  much  lower  level,  English  play- 
goers forty  years  ago  delighted  in  the  burlesques  of 
Byron  and  Burnand,  which  had  many  amusing  scenes 
of  parody  and  often  contained  genuine  wit.  Their 
dialogue,  if  not  of  any  great  style  or  distinction,  was 
far  better  English  than  is  generally  to  be  heard  in  our 
modern  musical  plays.  We  have  a  school  of  modern 
light  comedy  which  is  incomparably  better  than  any- 
thing of  its  kind  that  was  to  be  seen  on  the  English 
stage  forty  years  ago.  Its  dialogue  has  great  charm, 
ease,  naturalness.  It  generally  lacks  that  underlying 
seriousness  which  is  the  mark  of  the  greatest  comedy. 
It  avoids  all  but  drawing-room  topics  and  issues.  There- 
fore it  doesn't  cut  into  our  national  life.  Its  vogue 
and  influence  are  almost  limited  to  London. 

If  we  examine  carefully  the  average  dialogue  that  is 
spoken  in  our  popular  theatres,  alike  fashionable,  mid- 
dle class,  and  lower  class,  we  shall  find  that  most  of  it 
is  slovenly,  uncolloquial,  and  insincere.  The  vast  pro- 
portion of  it  is  very  bad  English.  While,  in  the  class 
of  popular  entertainment  that  has  lately  swamped  our 
theatres  to  the  exclusion  of  all  serious  work,  the  aver- 
age conversation  is  often  fitted  to  the  mouths  of  a 
party  of  rowdy  shopboys  frolicking  with  disreputable 
minxes  on  a  bank  holiday. 

I  will  give  a  sample.  The  following  sentence  was 
spoken  in  a  fashionable  West  End  theatre,  in  a  piece 


38  Patriotism  and 

that  had  no  connected  story  or  discoverable  plot ;  where 
none  of  the  personages,  so  far  as  I  could  discern,  acted 
from  any  intelligible  motive,  or  had  any  reason  for  be- 
ing in  the  places  where  they  found  themselves.  There 
was  a  succession  of  bright  tawdry  scenes,  a  display  of 
gorgeous  dresses,  a  crowd  of  chorus  girls,  and  several 
star  performers  of  both  sexes,  who  appeared  in  dif- 
ferent disguises  throughout  this  disordered  maze  and 
revel  of  insanity.  The  leading  comedian  was  making 
advances  to  the  leading  lady. 

"I  suppose  you  mean  to  infer  that  I'm  hot  stuff," 
she  replied. 

I  am  fastidious  in  the  matter  of  dialogue,  and  I  claim 
that  this  line  should  have  read,  "Then  you  think  I'm  a 
whore." 

That  is  good  Shakespearean  English,  and  it  says 
what  she  meant  in  exactly  half  the  number  of  sylla- 
bles. It  has  also  the  merit  of  implying  a  reproof 
instead  of  a  sanction  for  further  impropriety. 

The  word  I  have  used  is  a  plain,  coarse  one,  but  it  is 
not  really  so  coarse  or  so  filthy  as  the  term  actually 
used.  Many  plain,  coarse  things  exist  in  the  world, 
and  plain,  coarse  words  are  necessary  to  denote  them; 
unless  we  would  deceive  ourselves  and  corrupt  our 
language.  Integrity  of  speech  is  the  sign  of  integrity 
of  character.  The  right  use  of  words  means  the  right 
perception  of  facts.  The  right  perception  of  facts 
gives  a  power  of  control  over  such  of  them  as  are 
amendable  to  our  control.  English  people  always  think 
they  have  escaped  from  an  ugly  fact  when  they  have 
merely  escaped  from  an  ugly  word.  Our  present  ca- 
lamities and  misfortunes  can  be  directly  traced  to  our 
inveterate  habit  of  supposing  ourselves  to  be  in  the 


Popular  Education  39 

region  of  facts  when  we  are  merely  in  the  region  of 
words. 

"I  suppose  you  mean  to  infer  that  I'm  hot  stuff." 
The  words  were  spoken  by  a  very  accomplished  and 
beautiful  woman,  a  born  high  comedienne  of  a  rare 
type,  who  in  any  healthy  condition  of  our  stage  would 
be  delighting  educated  audiences  in  such  parts  as  Eosa- 
lind  and  Lady  Teazle.  And  she  was  serving  out  to  a 
thoughtless  crowd  a  nauseous  stew  compounded  of  folly, 
inanity,  vulgarity,  and  such  disguised  or  undisguised 
impropriety  as  I  have  quoted.  It  is  heart-breaking  to 
think  of  the  numbers  of  trained  actors  and  actresses  who 
are  defrauding  the  drama  of  their  most  valuable  art, 
and  are  being  "exploited"  to  degrade  the  public  taste, 
and  to  corrupt  the  English  language.  There  is  a  wealth 
of  potential  talent  which  is  being  constantly  drained 
off  to  this-  debasing  service. 

"I  suppose  you  mean  to  infer  that  I'm  hot  stuff." 
Sir,  I  claim  that  this  is  a  fair  sample  of  much  of  the 
dialogue  that  is  nightly  spoken  in  the  majority  of  the 
theatres  of  our  country,  and  this  to  the  immense  ap- 
proval and  enjoyment  of  crowded  audiences.  I  do  not 
say  that  there  are  not  better  things  to  be  found,  which 
if  they  do  not  tend  to  the  purity  and  vigour  of  our 
mother  tongue,  at  least  do  not  corrupt  it.  But  a  popu- 
lar English  audience  seems  to  laugh  at  anything  except 
wit  The  last  time  I  saw  "The  School  for  Scandal" 
there  was  scarcely  a  laugh  except  at  some  interpolated 
gags.  Yet  one  would  think  that  Sheridan's  dialogue 
had  a  perennial  power  of  amusement,  even  for  the  least 
educated  person.  But  Sheridan  has  vanished  from 
our  stage  in  company  with  Shakespeare. 

"I  suppose  you  mean  to  infer  that  I'm  hot  stuff." 


40  Patriotism  and 

That  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  dialogue  that  most 
amuses  an  average  popular  audience.  What  kind  and 
what  level  of  Popular  or  General  Education  does  it  im- 
ply? 

Surely  it  is  one  of  the  first  concerns  of  Popular  Edu- 
cation to  teach  our  children  the  right  use  of  our  native 
tongue.  The  quality  of  the  dialogue  most  approved  and 
enjoyed  by  the  vast  audiences  in  our  popular  theatres, 
is  a  measure  of  the  quality  of  the  training  they  have  re- 
ceived in  English  grammar,  speech,  and  literature.  It 
has  always  been  a  cherished  duty  of  the  French  thea- 
tre to  preserve  the  purity  of  the  French  language.  And 
the  good  effect  of  this  is  shown  in  the  diction  and  man- 
ners of  the  French  lower  and  middle  classes.  The  al- 
most unanimous  enjoyment  by  our  vast  theatre-going 
public  of  such  sloppy,  pert,  and  vicious  dialogue  as  I 
have  quoted  is,  I  respectfully  submit,  sir,  a  grave  re- 
proach to  that  part  of  our  system  of  Popular  Education 
which  is  responsible  for  teaching  them  the  English  lan- 
guage. A  man's  vocabulary  is  the  direct  expression  of 
the  quality  and  the  value  of  the  education  he  has  re- 
ceived. My  old  carpenter  had  a  far  stronger,  nobler 
power  of  speech  than  the  vast  majority  of  the  audiences 
in  our  popular  theatres,  brought  up  under  Popular 
Education.  His  vocabulary  was  certainly  very  limited ; 
but  it  was  a  clear,  simple,  racy  vernacular,  dealing  ha- 
bitually with  realities. 

I  do  not  propose  to  banish  slang  from  the  drama.  It 
will  always  be  current  in  daily  talk,  and  the  theatre 
naturally  and  rightly  adopts  it  in  like  measure.  Slang 
is  necessary  to  the  growth  of  a  language,  and  is  always 
one  of  its  feeders.  A  language  without  slang  is  a  dead 
language.  An  abundance  of  curt,  virile  slang  is  a  sign 
of  rude,  boisterous  vitality  in  a  language.  That  very 


Popular  Education  41 

small  part  of  the  current  slang  of  the  day  which  is 
found  to  be  serviceable,  creeps  into  the  language,  as 
parvenus  creep  into  good  society,  gains  an  acknowledged 
position,  and  becomes  an  approved  mode  of  speech.  The 
rest  drops  speedily  into  disuse.  Slang  is  also  useful 
for  the  correction  of  prigs,  and  for  the  annoyance  of 
superior  persons.  But  an  abundance  of  meaningless, 
vicious  slang  is  the  sign  of  general  stupidity,  befuddle- 
ment,  and  mental  depravity.  The  mere  fact  that  some 
slang  is  spoken  in  our  theatres  is  not  in  itself  a  sign 
of  degradation  in  our  drama.  The  evil  is  that  a  pe- 
culiarly noxious  kind  of  slang  has  become  the  staple 
dialogue  of  our  national  form  of  entertainment,  that  it 
is  almost  universal,  that  it  is  spoken  to  the  virtual  exclu- 
sion of  good  sense  and  fine  feeling,  and  to  the  wide 
corruption  of  our  native  tongue.  This  kind  of  slang  is 
sometimes  used  in  our  fashionable  comedies  with  the 
implied  sympathy  and  approval  of  the  author  and  audi- 
ence. It  is  part  of  the  business  of  comedy  to  correct 
bad  habits  of  speech,  by  exposing  them  to  ridicule. 
When  vicious  forms  of  slang  are  put  into  the  mouths  of 
characters  designed  to  be  sympathetic,  they  are  made 
popular;  the  value  of  our  ordinary  coins  of  speech  is 
lowered,  and  a  defaced  and  debased  verbal  and  mental 
currency  is  sent  into  wide  circulation. 

A  man  of  sterling  character,  good  sense,  and  sound 
mental  fibre,  even  if  of  limited  education,  rarely  uses 
and  rarely  enjoys  slang.  Slang  is  habitually  used  only 
by  young  folk,  and  by  ignorant,  foolish,  empty  persons 
of  low  intelligence.  Therefore,  except  in  the  portrayal 
of  quite  young  people,  slang  should  never  be  used  by  the 
dramatist  without  some  implied  censure  or  ridicula  or 
at  least  a  tolerant  contempt  of  the  character  speaking ^ 

The  tendency  in  the  theatre  towards  flabby, 


42  Patriotism  and 

dered  speech  and  mental  confusion  which  I  have  dwelt 
upon,  had  been  gathering  force  for  many  years  before 
the  war,  keeping  pace  with  the  spread  of  Popular  Edu- 
cation. The  English  theatre  was  and  is  afflicted  by  the 
same  disease  as  the  English  nation — It  dare  not  and  it 
will  not  face  realities.  Everything  unpleasant  or  of 
serious  import  is  to  be  shunned.  Many  times  in  past 
years,  I  have  gone  aside  from  the  immediate  subject 
of  a  lecture  or  essay,  to  point  out  that  the  immense 
vogue  of  a  wholly  frivolous,  banal,  and  meaningless 
form  of  theatrical  entertainment,  was  a  warning  and 
sure  forerunner  of  national  calamity.  Lecturing  at  the 
Koyal  Institution  in  1904,  I  said:  "The  careless  dis- 
organization and  confusion  of  thought  that  reign  in 
our  drama,  are  all  of  a  piece  with  the  careless  disor- 
ganization and  confusion  of  thought  that  reign  in  other 
and  more  important  matters;  in  our  national  religion; 
in  our  national  defences;  in  our  national  industries. 
It  is  all  due  to  the  same  causes:  to  our  want  of  alert- 
ness ;  our  want  of  drill ;  our  want  of  wit ;  our  resolute 
national  hypocrisy;  our  national  insensibility  to  ideas; 
our  national  hatred  of  ideals.  .  .  .  Will  it  be  any  great 
wonder  if  we  go  down  in  the  next  European  tussle  ?"  * 
Often  before  and  since,  I  have  vainly  pointed  out 
that  while  the  growing  inanity  and  empty  vulgarity  of 
our  most  popular  theatrical  entertainments  was  a  dis- 
grace in  itself,  it  yet  had  greater  significance  as  a  warn- 
ing of  national  aberration  and  disintegration.  There 
was  a  co-ordination  of  our  inability  to  think  clearly, 
sincerely,  and  seriously  in  the  theatre,  and  our  inability 
to  think  clearly,  sincerely,  and  seriously  about  the  great 
concerns  of  our  national  existence.  The  Germans  per- 

1  "Foundations  of  a  National  Drama."     See  alao  other  kin- 
dred passages  in  the  same  volume. 


Popular  -Education  43 

ceived  this,  and  since  the  war  have  jeeringly  pointed  it 
out  to  us.  They  plainly  saw  that  as  we  were  gradually 
becoming  destitute  of  common  sense  and  incapable  of 
serious  thought  in  the  theatre,  so  we  were  gradually 
becoming  destitute  of  common  sense  and  incapable  of 
serious  thought  in  shaping  the  destinies  of  our  empire. 
The  French,  with  their  bright,  clear  intelligence,  have 
also  perceived  it.  When  we  take  our  masterpieces  to 
Paris,  we  merely  baffle  and  bewilder  French  critics  and 
playgoers.  M.  Adolphe  Brisson  in  "Le  Temps"  com- 
plains of  the  puerility  of  the  English  plays  he  has  seen, 
and  of  their  lack  of  relationship  to  real  life.  He  won- 
ders how  such  childish  stuff — either  pantomime  or  sick- 
ly sentimental — can  please  the  public  of  London  or  of 
]STew  York.  With  the  Germans  pressing  hard  towards 
Calais  as  I  write,  the  English  nation  is  at  last  obliged 
to  face  realities.  Let  us  hope  that  the  English  theatre 
will  be  obliged  to  follow  suit. 

Immediately  after  the  outbreak  of  war,  there  was  a 
wide  and  almost  universal  expansion  of  the  form  of 
leatrical  entertainment  that  I  have  described.  The 
folly,  frivolity,  and  dull  banality  of  musical  comedy, 
had  for  some  time  been  giving  place  to  a  still  more  wit- 
less and  purposeless  form  of  Neo-Tomf oolery ;  even 
more  empty  of  good  sense,  good  taste,  and  good  feeling ; 
full  of  foolish  muddled  thought  and  pernicious  entice- 
ment; the  racketty  gambol  of  a  ribaudred  nag  on  a 
jaunt  towards  the  brotheL 

~No  one  who  is  not  led  astray  by  his  whimsies,  will 
be  so  foolish  as  to  suppose  that  the  theatre  will  ever  be 
entirely  cleared  of  immorality.  Let  us  in  these  days 
have  the  courage  to  face  and  to  acknowledge  realities. 
Theatres  of  a  certain  class  will  always  have  subterra- 
nean passages  to  the  brothel,  and  the  loweat  houses 


44  Patriotism  and 

will  Have  more  or  less  open  access.  The  Puritans  tried 
to  avoid  this  evil  by  doing  away  with  theatres  alto- 
gether, thereby  calling  into  existence  the  festival  of  un- 
disguised indecency  on  the  Restoration  stage.  But  the 
Restoration  comedies  are  purged  of  much  of  their  bad 
effect  by  the  brilliancy  of  their  wit,  and  the  force  of 
their  portraiture  of  town  life.  I  confess  myself  a.  great 
admirer  of  the  wit  and  characterization  of  Congreve, 
Vanbrugh,  and  Colley  Gibber.  I  do  not  think  their 
comedies  had  nearly  so  much  evil  influence  upon  their 
audiences  as  many  of  our  present  entertainments  have 
upon  our  modern  audiences.  When  we  are  intent  upon 
watching  a  well-drawn  character,  or  listening  to  witty 
talk,  we  are  drawn  away  from  sensual  suggestion. 

The  Puritans  tried  to  close  the  theatres  altogether. 
That  is  allowed  to  be  impossible  to-day.  It  is  startling, 
though  on  second  thoughts  it  is  seen  to  be  quite  nat- 
ural, to  find  that  the  silly,  holy  horror  of  the  acted 
drama,  which  has  always  been  one  of  our  pet  national 
whimsies,  should  lead  to  the  establishment  amongst  us, 
as  our  national  evening  pastime,  of  the  most  frivolous, 
futile,  and  perhaps  most  morally  degrading  form  of  en- 
tertainment that  has  ever  wasted  and  soiled  the  leisure 
of  a  civilized  nation.  The  opposition  that  would  meet 
any  Government  proposal  to  guide  and  inspire  the 
Popular  Education  of  the  people  in  the  theatre,  is  a 
chief  reason  that  England,  with  her  native  aptitude  for 
great  and  serious  drama,  with  her  record  of  past  proud 
leadership  in  this  civilizing  and  humanizing  art,  has 
to-day  a  national  theatre  so  intellectually  bankrupt  and 
imbecile  that  its  main  productions  are  laughing-stocks 
to  our  enemies,  and  objects  of  bewilderment  and  con- 
tempt to  our  Allies. 

The  outbreak  of  the  war  seemed  to  provoke  an  orgy 


Popular  Education  45 

of  extravagant,  incoherent,  vicious  gaiety  in  our  popu- 
lar theatres.  The  scenery  became  more  garish  and  cost- 
ly ;  larger  troupes  of  chorus  girls  in  scantier  dresses  pa- 
raded more  and  more  of  their  physical  charms ;  blazing 
popular  comedians  paraded  less  and  less  of  their  intel- 
lectual powers.  One  production  was  advertised  to  cost 
£15,000. 

The  London  variety  stage  burst  into  a  romp  of  flam- 
ing licentiousness.  There  were  mutterings  of  disap- 
proval. Somebody  called  out  for  the  Lord  Chamber- 
lain. One  manager  defended  himself  by  saying  that  he 
had  the  Lord  Chamberlain's  licence,  without  intending 
thereby  to  demonstrate  the  Lord  Chamberlain's  impo- 
tent acquiescence  and  official  approval  of  this  class  of 
entertainment.  Another  manager  defended  himself  by 
saying  that  his  "show"  was  "clean,"  without  giving  any 
definition  of  the  word,  and  without  admitting  that  of 
two  evils,  it  is  much  better  to  be  dirty  than  imbecile. 

The  bishops  got  fidgetty.  Clergymen  occasionally 
look  in  at  the  theatre,  sometimes  to  reprove  its  immo- 
rality; sometimes  to  beam  on  a  piece  of  rosy  twaddle; 
sometimes  to  advertise  widely,  the  soul-saving  qualities 
of  some  comic  travesty  of  religion,  such  as  "Have  you 
found  Jesus  ?"  by  Mr.  Godly  Slime. 

The  bishops  got  fidgetty.  It  was  pointed  out  to  them 
that  though  there  might  be  flaming  licentiousness  at 
some  theatres,  there  was  a  compensating  amount  of 
rosy  twaddle  at  other  theatres.  Upon  hearing  this,  the 
bishops  seemed  to  be  satisfied.  They  quieted  down,  and 
the  subject  dropped. 

We  are  used  to  these  periodic  eruptions  of  outraged 
morality  against  the  theatre.  We  never  learn  that  flam- 
ing licentiousness  and  rosy  twaddle  are  the  inevitable 
counterparts  of  each  other.  We  never  learn  that  a  sane, 


46  Patriotism  and 

sincere,  intellectual  drama  is  the  enemy  of  them  both, 
and  the  best  security  for  a  wholesome,  invigorating  at- 
mosphere in  the  theatre. 

"No !"  we  cry  out  "Let  all  our  plays  be  rosy  twad- 
dle! Let  wax  doll  morality  be  decreed  in  all  our  the- 
atres! Let  our  drama  avoid  all  'unpleasant'  subjects! 
Let  it  not  dare  to  tell  us  unwelcome  truths  about  our- 
selves! Let  it  make  no  demand  upon  our  serious 
thought,  and  no  criticism  upon  our  vices !  Let  it  spurn 
the  realities  of  life!" 

Having  thus  delivered  ourselves,  we  go  to  sleep  until 
human  nature  revenges  itself  upon  rosy  twaddle,  and 
makes  another  defiant  exhibition  of  all  its  ugly  naked- 
ness. 

The  bishops  may  be  sure  that  an  enforcement  of  rosy 
twaddle  will  not  banish  licentiousness  from  our  thea- 
tres. Rather,  by  the  natural  law  of  reaction,  rosy  twad- 
dle is  likely  to  encourage  an  outbreak  of  licentiousness. 
I  do  not  wish  to  shut  out  rosy  twaddle  altogether  from 
our  stage.  Wholesome  rosy  twaddle  may  be  necessary 
for  our  growing  girls,  if  they  will  go  to  theatres;  as 
wholesome  adventure  and  stirring  heroism  are  certainly 
good  for  our  growing  boys.  But  rosy  twaddle  is  not  a 
good  preparation  for  the  realities  of  life,  even  for 
growing  girls.  And  the  present  generation  of  them 
will  have  to  live  in  a  world  of  cruel  and  piercing  reali- 
ties, and  not  in  a  dreamland  of  rosy  twaddle.  It  is  a 
very  difficult  and  thorny  question.  The  onus  lies  upon 
individual  fathers  and  mothers,  and  will  always  lie 
upon  them. 

If  the  bishops,  by  an  occasional  protest,  or  by  their 
occasional  patronage  of  rosy  twaddle,  could  succeed  in 
driving  out  immorality  from  the  theatre,  they  would 
only  drive  the  moat  of  it  to  take  shelter  elsewhere — 


I 


Popular  Education  47 

some  of  it  perhaps  in  churches.  If  the  bishops  really 
wish  to  raise  our  decadent  and  moribund  drama,  let 
them  not  try  to  enforce  a  universal  reign  of  rosy  twad- 
dle, but  let  them  give  their  help  and  countenance  to 
establish  the  vogue  of  a  national  school  of  sincere  and 
serious  modern  drama  and  comedy,  whose  first  aim  shall 
be  to  face  the  great  realities  of  our  national  life  and 
character,  and  to  tell  us  the  truth  about  them  in  a  way 
that  will  amuse  and  interest  thoughtful  and  educated 
people  of  all  classes.  Let  clergymen  bestow  the  very 
precious  and  welcome  pecuniary  aid  of  pious  advertise- 
ment and  benediction  upon  plays  of  this  class,  and  not 
upon  rosy  twaddle  stuffed  with  cheap  false  sentiment, 
or  upon  holy  twaddle  of  the  "Have-you-found-Jesus" 
type.  The  theatre  is  not  the  place  to  save  men's  souls. 
It  is  the  place  to  give  us  thoughtful  amusement,  to  instil 
a  large  and  sane  knowledge  of  life,  to  educate  us  in- 
sensibly in  the  supreme  science  of  wise  living.  Surely, 
sir,  this  latter  is  the  most  necessary  and  most  impor- 
tant part  of  "general"  education.  The  theatre  at  its 
best  is  the  most  potent  instrument  of  "general"  educa- 
tion. And  the  people  will  give  it  to  themselves,  if  only 
they  can  be  rightly  trained  and  led. 

When  Popular  Education  was  introduced  fifty  years 
ago,  it  might  have  been  confidently  prophesied,  "This 
will  indirectly  lead  to  a  wide  knowledge  and  apprecia- 
tion of  Shakespeare  in  his  native  home,  the  theatre. 
This  will  train  our  populace  to  recognize  and  demand 
the  best  the  drama  can  give  them."  Alas !  As  Popular 
Education  became  more  popular,  Shakespeare  became 
more  unpopular,  until  we  have  finally  kicked  him  off 
our  stage.  When  we  set  out  for  battle,  instead  of  call- 
ing upon  Shakespeare  to  fortify  us  with  his  patriotism, 
to  inflame  us  with  his  passion  for  England,  to  counsel 


48  Patriotism  and 

us  from  his  stores  of  radiant  wisdom,  and  to  amuse 
us  with  his  rich,  hearty  humour — instead  of  this,  we 
called  for  an  obscene  imp  to  tickle  us  with  idiot  quips, 
and  becks,  and  leers,  and  smirks,  and  to  jig  with  us  to 
immeasurable  jeopardy  and  sorrow  and  disaster.  In- 
stead of  listening  to  the  arousing  music  and  thrilling 
trumpets  of  Shakespeare's  verse,  we  listened  to  a 
crazy  jingle  of  ragtime  ditties  and  dances.  Instead  of 
applauding  the  noble,  vigorous  speech  of  Shakespeare, 
we  applauded  the  fetid  drivel  of  revue. 

Has  this  nothing  to  do  with  the  Popular  Education 
our  nation  has  received,  and  is  receiving  ?  Does  it  not 
point  to  something  wrong  in  its  conception,  or  in  its 
matter,  or  in  its  standards,  or  in  its  methods,  or  in  its 
instruments,  or  in  its  recipients? 

I  affirm  that  there  is  the  most  intimate  connexion 
between  Popular  Education  and  the  present  intellectual 
degradation  of  nine-tenths  of  our  popular  amusements. 
England,  as  I  write,  hangs  insecurely  over  a  gulf  of  ir- 
retrievable ruin,  not,  indeed,  because  we  have  rejected 
Shakespeare  from  our  theatres,  but  because  in  other  and 
greater  matters  we  have  also  rejected  high  standards ; 
because  as  in  the  drama,  so  in  matters  of  national  life 
or  death,  we  have  fobbed  ourselves  with  words,  and 
stuffed  our  heads  with  trash,  and  our  souls  with  insin- 
cerities. Our  hope  now  is  in  the  valour  and  tenacity 
of  our  soldiers.  How  like  a  granite  fortress  they  stand? 
invulnerable.  How  splendid  they  are  in  battle.  That 
is  because  in  battle  they  have  to  be  led,  and  they  have  to 
obey.  Then  the  greatness  of  their  strength  appears. 

]STo  one  would  grudge  the  brave  fellows  who  have 
been  hourly  risking  their  lives  for  us,  whatever  merri- 
ment and  frolic  may  serve  to  relax  them  and  refit  them 
for  their  further  dreadful  struggle.  The  fierce  excite- 


Popular  Education  49 

ment  of  the  times  explains,  and  perhaps  excuses,  a  good 
deal  of  frivolity  and  licentiousness.  Physicians  hold 
the  key  to  that.  It  is  perhaps  inevitable.  But  it  is  none 
the  less  to  he  discouraged  and  deplored. 

I  have  proclaimed  myself  a  great  lover  of  good  tom- 
foolery. But  the  tomfoolery  seen  and  heard  in  English 
theatres  of  recent  years,  has  been  for  the  most  part  such 
bad,  dull,  witless,  and,  in  some  cases,  such  evil  tomfool- 
ery. There  has,  of  course,  been  a  considerable  mixture 
of  clever  and  amusing  stuff,  and  occasionally  a  rare 
gem  of  parody,  or  of  grotesque  buffoonery.  When  near- 
ly all  the  popular  theatres  in  a  nation  are  given  up  to 
tomfoolery,  we  may  surely  look  for  an  occasional  relief 
from  the  monotony  of  tawdry,  vulgar,  jiggetty  non- 
sense. But  how  comparatively  rare  it  has  been !  Sure- 
ly any  ordinary  sensible  man,  aware  of  the  value  of 
life  and  the  seriousness  of  the  times,  who  has  visited 
our  most  popular  entertainments  of  late  years,  must 
have  agreed  with  the  Preacher  of  old,  "I  said  of  laugh- 
ter, it  is  mad,  and  of  mirth,  what  doeth  it?  It  is  bet- 
ter to  hear  the  rebuke  of  the  wise  than  the  song  of  fools. 
As  the  crackling  of  thorns  under  a  pot,  so  is  the  laugh- 
ter of  fools.  Madness  is  in  their  heart  while  they  live, 
and  after  that  they  go  to  the  dead." 

It  has  been  claimed  that  these  entertainments  re- 
fresh and  exhilarate  our  soldiers  on  leave  from  the 
front.  I  passionately  deny  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
tomfoolery  at  our  popular  theatres  can  refresh  or  ex- 
hilarate anybody  with  a  mind  much  above  that  of  a 
chimpanzee,  or  with  tastes  and  habits  of  thought  much 
above  those  of  a  Whitechapel  roysterer  on  Margate  pier. 
Good  tomfoolery  refreshes  and  exhilarates  only  a 
healthy  vigorous  mind,  and  this  only  after  it  has  tired 
itself  in  strenuous  exercise.  Witless,  sniggering,  bla- 


50  Patriotism  and 

tant  tomfoolery  may  give  a  kind  of  tipsy  refreshment 
and  exhilaration  to  those  whose  habit  or  "general"  edu- 
cation makes  them  crave  for  it,  as  Eccles  craved  for 
cool,  refreshing  gin.  But  that  only  shows  what  in- 
grained tomfools  they  are.  To  pour  the  latest  vulgar 
slang  and  nonsense  into  minds  already  soaked  with  it, 
is  an  occupation  not  worthy  of  our  many  fine  and  ac- 
complished actors  and  actresses  who  are  nightly  engaged 
in  it,  but  worthy  only  of  a  scullery  maid  pouring  greasy 
dish-water  down  a  sink,  or  of  a  farm  labourer  unloading 
a  dung-cart  on  to  a  manure  heap.  I  wrong  the  scullery 
maid  and  the  farm  labourer.  They  are  doing  clean  and 
useful  work. 

I  passionately  deny  that  stupid  and  vulgar  tomfool- 
ery can  have  any  other  effect  than  to  befuddle  and  he- 
betate the  mind,  to  deaden  its  perception  of  what  is  ex- 
cellent, and  to  slacken  the  ardours  and  resolves  of  duty 
and  patriotism. 

I  think  I  hear  a  mocking  laugh  from  our  grim  enemy, 
as  he  squats  there  with  his  eyes  and  guns  cocked  to- 
wards Calais,  jeering  at  "music  hall"  England,  and 
hugging  himself  to  think  that  "if  we  had  possessed  the 
spirit  of  Shakespeare  we  should  long  ago  have  won  the 
war."  But  he  shall  find  that  the  spirit  of  Shakespeare 
is  again  stirring  in  us,  and  in  those  thrice-armed  breasts 
that  are  beating  back  the  flood  of  German  savagery  in 
Flanders. 

Let  us  suppose  that  on  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  the 
Government,  from  some  reason  of  economy,  or  from 
some  necessity  of  State,  had  put  in  force  the  Defence 
of  the  Realm  Act,  and  had  decreed  that  for  a  year  no 
English  theatre  should  play  anything  but  Shakespeare, 
and  this  with  scenery  already  painted.  I  do  not  say 
that  such  a  measure  was  possible,  or  even  advisable.  But 


Popular  Education  51 

if,  from  national  necessity,  it  had  been  passed  and  en- 
forced, does  anyone  doubt  that  it  would  have  corrected 
and  enormously  raised  the  tastes  of  our  theatre-goers, 
that  it  would  have  given  them  a  new  high  standard  of 
drama  and  comedy,  that  it  would  have  developed  in 
many  of  them  a  love  for  what  is  best  in  our  literature, 
enlarged  their  views  of  life,  quickened  their  patriotism, 
and  made  them  more  fit  to  perform  their  duties  to  their 
country  ?  Does  anyone  doubt  that  it  would  have  given 
us  a  higher  standard  of  acting,  and  discovered  actors 
with  a  special  gift  for  interpreting  our  national  drama  ? 
Does  anyone  doubt  that  such  a  measure  would  have 
promoted  a  wise  sparing  of  time  and  money?  That  it 
would  have  saved  all  those  hundreds  of  thousands,  per- 
haps millions,  of  pounds  that  were  spent  for  the  most 
part  in  wasteful  extravagance  on  scenery  and  dresses 
that  are  now  on  the  dust-heap  and  in  the  rag-bag  ?  That 
it  would  have  saved  many  of  the  millions  of  pounds 
that  were  paid  to  look  at  tawdry  spectacles?  That  it 
would  have  saved  all  those  yet  more  precious  golden 
hours  that  were  spent  in  listening  to  rag-time  jingles 
and  choice  bad  English  ?  That  it  would  have  filled  our 
leisure  hours  with  wise,  fruitful  amusement  that  we 
need  not  be  ashamed  to  recall? 

Does  anyone  say  that  it  would  have  been  a  great  hard- 
ship to  deprive  the  mass  of  theatre-goers  of  their  pleas- 
ure ?  Pleasure  to  listen  to  such  dialogue  as  "I  suppose 
you  mean  to  infer  that  I'm  hot  stun7"  !  Hardship  to  lis- 
ten to  Shakespeare's  chanted  passion  and  philosophy 
and  rich,  wise  humour!  O  bathos  of  Popular  Educa- 
tion! 0  bottomless  pit! 

Does  anyone  say  that  the  theatres  would  have  been 
empty?  Probably  at  first  many  of  them  would  have 
been.  Fit  audiences  Shakespeare  might  have  found, 


52  Patriotism  and 

but  very  few.  But  in  fault  of  getting  something  on  the 
level  of  their  vitiated  tastes,  theatre-goers  would  have 
grown  to  tolerate  Shakespeare,  they  would  have  braced 
their  wits  to  understand  him,  and  in  the  end  a  large 
body  of  them  would  have  found  themselves  amused  and 
interested  in  listening  to  him,  and  in  watching  his  vast 
panorama  of  human  life  unfold  itself.  Many  of  them 
would  have  got  into  a  Shakespeare  habit,  as  for  years 
past  they  have  got  into  a  music-hall  and  variety  theatre 
habit.  For  our  national  worship  of  music-hall  nonsense 
and  vulgarity  is  largely  a  habit,  a  fashion.  We  follow 
it  for  the  same  reason  that  we  do  many  other  stupid 
things — because  other  people  do  them.  And  we  keep 
on  doing  it  for  the  same  reason.  The  habit,  the  fashion 
came  in  with  the  foolish  years  of  heedless  luxury  before 
the  war;  it  was  one  of  our  many  reckless  invocations 
to  national  calamity. 

But  those  ignoble  years  of  national  slackness  and 
fatty  degeneration  have  passed.  We  are  finding  that 
hardship  is  our  best  schoolmaster,  and  necessity  our 
best  counsellor.  These  it  is  that  prove  our  mettle,  and 
heighten  our  courage,  and  arm  our  souls.  After  the 
war  we  shall  have  many  hardships  to  endure.  Let*is 
brace  ourselves  to  endure  even  the  supreme  hardship  of 
listening  to  a  little  Shakespeare  in  our  theatres.  We 
may  not  like  it  at  first ;  it  will  be  a  severe  call  upon  such 
mental  powers  as  we  possess.  But  when  he  has  schooled 
us  for  a  time,  and  as  our  intelligence  in  the  theatre  be- 
gins to  waken,  we  shall  find  there  is  an  increasing 
wealth  of  wise  amusement  to  be  obtained  from  him,  and 
the  noisome  folly  and  inanity  of  the  years  that  have 
gone  will  stink  in  our  memory. 

It  has  lately  been  brought  to  your  notice  that  our 
present  Education  Acts,  by  the  clauses  that  restrict  the 


Popular  Education  53 

employment  of  children  in  theatres,  really  disallow  the 
performance  of  at  least  five  of  Shakespeare's  most  popu- 
lar and  most  enjoyable  plays — "Macbeth,"  "King 
John,"  "The  Winter's  Tale,"  "The  Merry  Wives  of 
Windsor,"  and  "The  Midsummer  Night's  Dream." 
"The  Tempest"  is  also  practically  prohibited.  Many 
modern  plays  of  very  high  reputation  are  also  excluded 
from  our  stage.  And  many  more  that  might  be  written 
are  stayed  from  seeing  the  light.  We  may  say  that  our 
Education  Acts  forbid  the  performance,  and  the  writing 
of  all  plays  that  have  parts  of  an  age  less  than  four- 
teen. For  these  parts  require  attendance  at  rehearsal, 
and  though  rehearsals  are  pleasurable  rather  than  fa- 
tiguing to  the  child,  they  take  up  some  considerable 
time.  And  if  the  child  has  to  play  in  one  piece  and 
rehearse  in  another,  it  is  obvious  that  the  time  for  school 
and  play  must  be  reduced. 

We  are  all  agreed  that  our  first  concern  should  be  the 
health  and  welfare  of  the  children.  Let  that  be  clearly 
understood.  Now  the  theatrical  life  is  a  very  healthy 
one.  The  work  in  itself  is  not  exacting,  and  is  full  of 
pleasant  and  not  injurious  excitement.  It  is  done  in 
the  company  of  one's  fellows,  and  before  encouraging 
spectators ;  and  this  in  itself  is  exhilarating,  and  drives 
away  nervous  fancies  and  morbid  thoughts.  An  actor, 
if  he  exercises  ordinary  self-control,  has  more  than  an 
average  expectation  of  good  health  and  long  life.  Here 
we  may  mention  such  names  as  Mrs.  Siddons,  Helen 
Faucit,  Ellen  Terry,  Mrs.  Kendal,  and  Lady  Bancroft, 
and,  above  all,  Sarah  Bernhardt,  who,  at  an  unmen- 
tionable age,  has  lately  been  delighting  large  audiences 
in  two  continents  with  eight  or  ten  performances  a  week 
of  the  most  exhausting  leading  roles.  All  the  famous 
English  actresses  I  have  named  were  born  on  the  stage, 


54  Patriotism  and 

and  educated  largely  by  the  stage.  At  the  age  when 
our  Education  Acts  begin  grudgingly  and  obstructively 
to  allow  our  young  people  to  make  their  first  appear- 
ance, nearly  all  the  most  honoured  actresses*  of  the  Eng- 
lish theatre  had  played  more*  parts  than  our  present 
leading  ladies  will  play  in  their  lifetime.  It  may  be 
claimed  that,  so  far  from  being  detrimental  to  health 
and  long  life,  a  theatrical  career  tends  to  promote 
them.  In  the  matter  of  morality,  at  all  the  leading 
popular  theatres,  neither  at  rehearsal  nor  at  perform- 
ance, is  there  any  evident  violation  of  decency  or  mo- 
rality that  a  child  would  notice.  At  some  of  the  less 
reputable  houses  there  may  be  lax  behaviour  and  occa- 
sional breaches  of  decorum,  but  not  more  glaring  than 
would  be  forced  on  a  child's  attention  at  the  street  cor- 
ners of  the  same  neighbourhood.  The  necessarily  con- 
stant work  and  driving  bustle  of  every  stage,  and  espe- 
cially the  variety  stage,  tend  to  shut  out  the  opportunity 
of  any  such  openly  indecent  and  immoral  behaviour  as 
would  be  likely  to  contaminate  a  child.  Observant  chil- 
dren would  be  more  likely  to  see  indications  of  such 
behaviour  in  the  auditorium,  and  on  the  whole  would 
be  more  protected  from  it  if  they  were  behind  the 
scenes.  It  may  be  urged  that,  according  to  my  own 
showing,  much  of  the  dialogue  in  popular  variety  pieces 
is  unfit  for  children's  ears.  I  agree  most  cordially.  I 
would  certainly  protect  children  from  hearing  it.  I 
would  equally  protect  the  older  performers  from  speak- 
ing it  I  would  also  protect  the  entire  audiences  from 
listening  to  it,  if  that  were  possible. 

If,  sir,  in  place  of  forbidding  children  under  the  age 
of  fourteen  to  speak  Shakespeare  on  our  stage,  you 
could  decree  that  no  person  under  the  age  of  eighty 
should  listen  to  much  of  the  dialogue  that  is  current 


Popular  Education  55 

there,  you  would  be  rendering  a  great  service  to  na- 
tional education,  for  you  would  be  helping  to  check  the 
nightly  corruption  of  the  English  language.  You 
would  also  be  indirectly  rendering  a  great  service  to 
our  decrepit  modern  drama,  which  under  our  present 
regime  is  threatened  with  extinction.  May  I  again 
point  out  that  although  nonsense  and  frivolity,  tinc- 
tured with  more  or  less  veiled  indecency,  have  always 
obtained  some  footing  on  every  stage,  it  was  not  until 
Popular  Education  asserted  its  sway  and  force,  that 
these  undesirable  elements  of  entertainment  obtained 
a  national  vogue;  became  the  national  dialect  of  the 
English  stage;  became  our  national  way  of  expressing 
ourselves  in  the  theatre ;  our  national  pride  and  delight ; 
our  national  model  of  popular  talk ;  for  whose  delivery 
at  our  most  popular  theatres,  we  are  ready  to  pay  their 
most  successful  exponents  at  the  rate  of  about  £50  an 
hour  ? 

Since,  then,  Popular  Education  does  not  correct  the 
present  general  delight  in  vulgarity  and  inanity  on  what 
must  now  be  called  our  national  stage;  since,  on  the 
contrary,  it  seems  to  flourish  and  spread  under  Popular 
Education,  may  we  not  say  that  the  children  of  the 
theatre  fifty  years  ago  were  receiving  behind  the 
scenes  an  education  that,  in  this  important  matter,  was 
better  and  sounder  than  the  education  our  average  chil- 
dren are  receiving  to-day  ?  For  they  had  constantly  to 
listen  to  a  fine  rendering  of  Shakespeare's  noblest  pas- 
sages, and  often  to  recite  them.  At  any  rate  we  may 
claim  that  there  cannot  be  anything  very  wrong  in  per- 
mitting children  to  receive  a  training  akin  to  that  which 
fitted  Mrs.  Siddons,  Helen  Faucit,  Ellen  Terry,  Mrs. 
Kendal,  and  Lady  Bancroft  for  their  honoured  careers. 

It  has  been  shown  that  our  Education  Acts  entirely 


56  Patriotism  and 

forbid  the  performance  of  five  or  six  of  Shakespeare's 
best  and  most  popular  plays.  In  reality  they  tend  to 
ban  the  performance  of  Shakespeare  altogether.  Shake- 
speare's leading  parts,  if  they  are  to  be  played  so  as  to 
give  anything  approaching  a  full  measure  of  enjoyment 
to  the  audience,  demand  not  only  great  natural  powers 
in  the  actors,  but  they  demand  also  an  early  training  of 
these  powers,  and  a  constant  exercise  of  them.  We  are 
here  again  forcibly  reminded  that  the  first  rule  of  Popu- 
lar Education  should  be  to  teach  our  young  people,  or 
to  give  them  an  opportunity  of  learning,  those  things 
that  will  fit  them  for  their  individual  calling,  and  make 
them  masters  of  it.  All  "general"  education,  except  of 
the  most  elementary  kind,  should  be  deferred  until  these 
things  are  thoroughly  learned.  It  was  because  their 
childhood  was  spent  in  acting  that  such  actresses  as 
Mrs.  Siddons,  Helen  Eaucit,  and  Ellen  Terry  could 
play  Shakespeare's  leading  parts  with  such  convincing 
power  and  passion  and  charm,  and  that  Mrs.  Kendal 
and  Lady  Bancroft  could  play  modern  parts  with  such 
ripeness,  ease,  and  round,  rich  perfection.  What  a  body 
and  quality  there  was  in  the  old  acting,  as  of  well-sea- 
soned oak,  or  old  vintage  wine !  It  was  because  my  old 
carpenter  had  thoroughly  learned  his  trade  as  a  boy 
that  he  could  make  the  whole  of  a  large,  useful,  durable 
cabinet  with  his  own  hands.  (The  door  of  the  next 
room  is  interjecting  noisy,  irritating  comments  on  our 
modern  school  of  carpentry,  by  slipping  its  latch  and  in- 
termittently creaking  and  slamming.  It  may  be  alleged 
that  this  is  due  to  the  wind.  I  maintain  that  it  is  due 
to  the  bad  education  of  our  carpenters.)  There  is  ex- 
actly the  same  difference  between  our  old  Shake- 
spearean actors  and  our  modern  amateurs,  that  there 
is  between  my  old  carpenter  and  our  modern  carpen- 


Popular  Education  57 

ters  educated  under  our  recent  acts.  And  the  reason 
for  that  difference  is  exactly  the  same,  namely,  that 
our  old  actors  and  carpenters  had  received  a  sound  and 
thorough  education  in  their  respective  callings  at  an 
age  when  they  were  most  receptive  and  most  pliable.  I 
could  give  you  instances  of  the  same  lapse  in  dozens 
of  other  trades  and  callings. 

Our  modern  actors  do  well  enough  in  modern  comedy 
where  nothing  much  more  is  required  of  them  than  to 
do  and  say  those  things  on  the  stage  which  they  do  and 
say  in  a  drawing-room.  But  actors  trained  by  modern 
methods,  which  leave  them  practically  amateurs,  cannot 
play  Shakespeare — witness  some  recent  attempts  which 
have  ended  in  comic  disaster.  Shakespeare  needs,  even 
for  a  moderately  successful  interpretation,  an  early, 
long,  strenuous  training  in  acting,  in  speaking  verse, 
and  in  appropriate  stage  bearing  and  manners. 

I  do  not  say  that  these  cannot  be  learned  after  the 
age  of  fourteen,  but  I  do  not  think  the  ground-work  of 
it  is  ever  quite  so  well  laid  as  in  childhood.  At  any 
rate,  if  our  Government  is  determined  to  rob  the  Eng- 
lish theatre  of  its  means  of  getting  a  supply  of  Shake- 
spearean actors,  and  in  this  way  immensely  to  lower  the 
level  of  our  drama,  and  thus  encourage  a  vicious  form 
of  evening  Popular  Education  throughout  the  land — 
if  Government  thus  decides,  then  I  think  we  are  justi- 
fied in  asking  it  to  establish  a  Conservatoire  for  train- 
ing our  young  actors  on  the  French  model.  This,  if 
wisely  ordered,  would  do  something  to  remedy  the  pres- 
ent defects  and  evils  of  our  theatre.  The  cost  would 
be  comparatively  little,  the  ultimate  gain  to  Popular 
Education  would  be  immense.  Eor  I  suppose  no  one, 
who  is  competent  to  judge,  will  question  that  the  Erench 
system  of  training  actors  has  immensely  raised  the  level 


58  Patriotism  and 

of  French  acting,  and  has  concurrently  raised  the  intel- 
lectual level  of  the  French  drama.  This,  in  its  turn, 
has  quickened  the  intelligence  and  the  critical  judgment 
of  French  playgoers.  The  middle  classes  in  the  second 
circle  of  the  Theatre  Frangais  are  far  better  judges 
of  a  play  than  are  the  occupants  of  our  London  stalls. 
You  will  hear  from  middle-class  French  playgoers  the 
most  sound  and  acute  dramatic  criticism.  In  England, 
and  especially  of  late  years,  there  has  been  practically 
no  critical  judgment  of  the  drama  amongst  our  mass  of 
theatre-goers.  There  has  been  a  mere  guzzle  of  popular 
amusement.  How  do  you  account  for  it,  sir,  that  under  a 
system  of  universal  Popular  Education,  its  recipients 
scarcely  trouble  to  judge  what  they  spend  their  spare 
cash  and  best  leisure  to  procure  ?  They  merely  swallow 
it 

Is  it  too  much  to  ask  that  Government  will  recognize 
how  valuable  an  instrument  the  drama  might  be  in  rais- 
ing the  tone  of  Popular  Education,  and  give  us  a  Con- 
servatoire, as  an  approach  to  a  soundly-organized  and 
well-managed  National  Theatre,  when  the  time  and  the 
circumstances  shall  be  favourable  to  its  establishment? 
Again  I  affirm  that  the  clauses  in  our  Education  Acts 
which  forbid  the  employment  of  children  under  four- 
teen, tend  both  directly  and  indirectly  to  shut  out 
Shakespeare  and  the  better  forms  of  modern  drama,  and 
thus  throw  wide  open  the  stage  doors  of  our  theatres  to 
mediocrity,  scatterbrain  frivolity,  and  romping  imbe- 
cility. 

What  I  have  said  applies  chiefly  to  the  exclusion  of 
children  from  our  stage  so  far  as  this  affects  a  sound 
training  for  their  future  career.  This  is  distinct  from 
the  more  important  question  of  forbidding  them  to  ap- 
pear in  parts  that  demand  to  be  played  by  children  of 


I 


Popular  Education  59 

ages  from  four  up  to  fourteen.     This  is  a  most  serious 

JT 

handicap  for  the  modern  drama,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
five  or  six  excluded  plays  of  Shakespeare.  There  are 
many  stories  of  the  stage  that  insist  that  a  child  or  chil- 
dren shall  he  actually  seen  and  heard.  They  would  lose 
their  poignancy  and  meaning,  and  the  play  would  be 
pointless  or  impossible,  without  the  presence  of  the 
child,  and  the  drift  or  force  of  its  spoken  words.  Many 
of  our  best  and  most  deservedly  popular  modern  plays, 
numbered  by  dozens,  have  children's  scenes  which  are 
of  the  first  importance  in  the  scheme;  though  they  are 
in  most  instances  quite  short,  call  for  no  great  intelli- 
gence, and  put  no  strain  upon  the  little  actor  or  actress. 
Numerous  instances  will  occur  to  everybody  who  knows 
the  repertory  of  the  modern  English  stage. 

In  considering  this  question  let  us  put  first  the  wel- 
fare of  the  child.  So  far  as  modern  drama  of  the  high* 
er  class  is  concerned,  these  children's  parts  are  compara- 
tively few  in  number — that  is,  when  we  count  them  in 
the  entire  volume  of  modern  stage  characters.  The 
child  is  pleasantly  engaged,  is  generally  petted  and 
feted  in  the  theatre,  and  is  not  called  upon  for  any 
great  physical  or  mental  exertion.  2sTo  stage  child  of 
to-day  has  to  work  a  quarter  so  hard  as  the  great  ac- 
tresses whom  I  have  named,  worked  from  their  earliest 
years.  I  suppose  their  life,  from  the  time  they  could 
take  part  in  a  general  cast,  was  one  of  constant  re- 
hearsals by  day  and  acting  till  a  late  hour  every  night. 
Judging  by  results,  will  anyone  tell  me  how  these  great 
actresses  have  suffered  from  being  allowed  to  go  upon 
the  stage  from  their  earliest  days?  Certainly  they 
have  not  suffered  in  health.  I  have  already  touched 
upon  their  "general"  education. 

Under  the  former  laws  that  governed  this  matter,  the 


60  Patriotism  and 

children  in  our  modern  serious  plays  were  selected  from 
a  crowd  of  applicants,  who  were  individually  tested  he- 
fore  heing  chosen  for  the  part  Anyone  who  has  con- 
stantly to  rehearse  children  for  the  stage,  occasionally 
picks  up  some  little  imp  or  gamine  who  has  a  horn 
genius  for  acting,  and  is  most  likely  fit  for  nothing 
much  else.  Such  a  child  will  probably  he  the  despair 
of  your  teachers,  and  will  make  mockery  of  your  Educa- 
tion Acts.  His  vocation  is  stamped  all  over  him,  though 
he  may  not  have  reached  half* the  years  of  your  age  lim- 
its. When  you  find  a  child  in  your  schools  of  extraor- 
dinary or  special  mental  ability,  you  give  that  child 
every  opportunity  to  develop  his  natural  gift  to  the  ut- 
most. When  a  child  is  found  with  a  natural  gift  for 
the  great  art  of  acting,  quite  as  rare  and  precious  a 
possession  as  marked  mental  ahility,  quite  as  deserv- 
ing of  encouragement  and  fostering  care,  often  more 
fruitful  in  delight  for  the  puhlic — why,  when  such  a 
child  is  discovered,  should  his  special  abilities  he 
thwarted,  and  his  fructifying  talent  laid  up  in  the  nap- 
kin of  "general"  education  ?  If  it  is  said  that  he  will 
be  made  a  more  useful  citizen  by  being  kept  off  the 
stage,  I  very  much  doubt  it.  The  only  sure  result,  so 
far  as  I  can  see,  is  that  the  child  will  be  kept  out  of  the 
only  place  where  his  special  ability  will  be  allowed  a 
free  course  to  develop.  Let  us  take  care  that  in  our  zeal 
to  manufacture  citizens  all  of  one  particular  pattern  of 
approved  dullness  and  banality,  we  do  not  bar  the  door 
to  originality,  variety,  genius,  and  leadership. 

I  may  point  out  here  that  our  present  Education  laws 
would  probably  have  robbed  the  English  theatre  of  Ed- 
mund Kean,  the  greatest  Shakespearean  actor  with  this 
kind  of* temperament  that  our  stage  has  known.  At  an$ 
rate,  it  would  have  deprived  him  of  his  early  training. 


Popular  Education  61 

How  valuable  that  early  training  was,  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  even  with  the  advantage  of  it,  he  yet  spent  his 
early  manhood  in  constant  failure  in  parts  like  Othello, 
Bichard,  and  Shylock,  and  only  obtained  his  mastery 
over  them  by  long  and  continued  practice.  Here,  again, 
it  is  made  plain  that  if  we  are  to  get  good  and  fine 
workmanship  in  any  skilled  craft,  such  as  acting  and 
carpentry,  the  first  aim  of  our  educational  policy  must 
be  to  see  that  every  workman  has  a  thorough  training 
in  it  at  an  early  age,  even  if  his  "general"  education  is 
a  little  neglected  or  deferred.  How  all  occasions  do  con- 
spire to  force  this  truth  upon  us ! 

If  we  are  again  to  have  a  living  Shakespeare  upon 
our  stage,  as  the  model  and  inspirer  of  a  living  serious 
modern  English  drama,  we  must  see  to  it  that  ample 
opportunities  are  given  for  our  actors  to  have  a  thor- 
ough training,  and  to  train  themselves  in  the  infinitely 
difficult,  exacting,  and  arduous  art  of  acting.  Our 
school  of  modern  comedy  needs  comparatively  little 
training.  It  largely  consists  in  photographing  the  man- 
ners and  behaviour,  and  speaking  the  slipshod  English 
of  the  drawing-room.  It  can  best  be  learned  in  a  draw- 
ing-room. Our  modern  "national"  drama,  I  mean  the 
variety  entertainment,  needs  comparatively  little  train- 
ing. It  largely  consists  in  photographing  the  manners 
and  behaviour,  and  speaking  the  latest  slang,  of  the 
race-course,  the  football  field,  and  the  public-house.  It 
can  best  be  learned  in  a  public-house,  or  on  a  race- 
course. 

But  when  an  actor  is  given  words  to  deliver  that  con- 
vey great  human  passion  or  emotion,  and  that  implicit- 
ly assert  the  value  and  meaning  of  life,  another  kind  of 
training  is  needed.  The  prose  of  high  comedy,  as  well 
as  the  lofty  verse  of  Shakespeare,  needs  a  long  cultiva- 


62  Patriotism  and 

tion  and  practice  of  delivery,  if  it  is  to  reach  the  in- 
telligence of  the  hearer,  and  not  to  bore  him  with  words 
that  he  cannot  understand,  or  perhaps  even  hear. 

I  respectfully  submit  to  you,  sir,  that  the  prohibition 
of  children  from  the  stage  tends  indirectly,  as  I  have 
shown,  to  lower  the  level  of  our  drama,  and  to  confirm 
the  masses  of  theatre-goers  in  their  natural  taste  for 
what  is  cheap,  frivolous,  and  debasing.  And  the  gen- 
eral result  of  this  and  other  conditions  is  that  for 
many  past  years,  during  all  the  fateful  time  before  and 
after  the  war,  the  English  theatre,  in  place  of  being  the 
wise  counsellor  and  amusing  companion  of  the  nation, 
has  rather  been  its  empty,  witless,  and  lascivious  jes- 
ter, and  is  at  the  present  moment  the  most  barren  and 
contemptible  theatre  that  any  civilized  nation  has  had 
for  centuries.  Yet  our  theatres  were  never  so  popular 
and  prosperous  as  they  have  lately  been. 

Returning  to  the  matter  of  these  children  who  show  a 
very  marked  talent  for  the  stage,  I  beg  you,  sir,  both  in 
the  interests  of  the  children  themselves  and  of  the 
drama,  to  permit  them,  with  due  safeguards,  to  appear 
on  the  stage  at  any  age  at  which  suitable  parts  require 
their  presence.  There  will  be  comparatively  very  few 
of  them,  not  one,  perhaps,  in  a  hundred  thousand  of  the 
child  population  of  the  nation. 

As  a  matter  of  numbers,  they  are  negligible.  As  a 
matter  of  principle,  I  claim  that  it  is  unwise  and  unjust 
to  forbid  them  to  exercise  their  natural  gifts  to  their 
own  advantage,  to  the  delight  of  the  public,  and  to  the 
furthering  of  the  best  interests  of  the  drama.  But  all 
children  admitted  to  this  class,  and  allowed  to  perform 
speaking  parts  of  some  importance,  should  be  examined 
by  a  small  committee  of  experts,  and  a  certificate  of 
competence  given.  I  daresay  the  Academy  of  Dramatic 


Popular  Education  63 

Art,  assisted  by  Miss  Italia  Conti,  would  undertake  this 
necessary  function,  and  thus  guard  against  any  abuse 
of  the  privilege. 

The  rest  of  the  children,  who  are  required  in  some 
numbers  for  the  due  performance  of  pantomime  and 
other  spectacle  or  poetic  plays,  and  for  certain  charm- 
ing children's  plays  whose  disappearance  would  be  a 
great  loss  to  the  theatre,  and  would  deprive  the  public 
of  much  pure  and  innocent  enjoyment — these  children 
should  also  be  allowed  to  appear  on  our  stage,  under 
careful  safeguards  and  restrictions.  !N~o  special  ability, 
or  aptitude  for  acting  is  demanded  from  the  children 
thus  employed.  All  that  most  of  them  are  called  upon 
to  do,  is  to  dance  and  skip  about  the  stage.  It  may 
be  noted  that  "The  Midsummer  Night's  Dream"  and 
"The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor"  are  among  the  plays 
that  require  a  number  of  such  children  for  their  per- 
formance. More  than  the  children  with  a  special  talent 
for  acting,  these  children  are  perhaps  likely  to  be  im- 
mediately benefited  by  the  permission  to  appear  on 
the  stage.  For  many  of  them,  their  surroundings  and 
company  in  the  theatre  are  better  and  more  wholesome 
than  are  their  surroundings  and  company  in  their 
homes,  or  in  the  alleys  where  they  spend  their  play  time. 
They  mostly  come  from  the  poorest  classes,  and  they 
daily  see  and  hear  things  much  more  harmful  than  they 
are  likely  to  see  and  hear  behind  the  scenes.  They  are 
generally  most  in  demand  about  Christmas  time,  and 
the  winter  hours  they  spend  in  the  theatres  are  a  luxury 
of  warmth  and  cheerfulness  for  them  compared  with 
the  hours  they  spend  in  their  homes  and  the  streets.  I 
do  not  think  that  anyone  who  has  been  behind  the  scenes 
at  Drury  Lane  in  the  pantomime  season,  can  doubt  that 
the  children  there  employed  are  on  the  whole  substan- 


64  Patriotism  and 

tially  benefited  by  being  allowed  to  appear  on  the  stage. 
Every  arrangement  is  made  for  their  comfort  and  well- 
being,  and  for  their  meals  and  education  between 
whiles. 

Of  course,  great  care  needs  to  be  taken  in  framing 
the  safeguards  and  the  restrictions  placed  on  the  chil- 
dren's appearance.  But  that  they  should  be  utterly  de- 
barred from  appearing  in  public  is,  I  claim,  hurtful  on. 
the  whole  to  their  interests  and  welfare,  as  it  is  need- 
lessly vexatious  to  the  public.  It  is  urged  that  drunken, 
lazy,  and  unscrupulous  parents  often  prey  upon  the 
earnings  of  their  children.  Surely  the  longer  hours 
children  are  kept  out  of  the  company  of  such  parents, 
the  better  for  them.  The  child's  earnings  can  be  pro- 
tected from  the  parents  where  this  is  advisable,  or  per- 
haps in  all  cases,  by  enacting  that  where  the  salary  is 
in  excess  of  daily  keep  and  a  little  pocket-money,  it 
shall  be  invested  in  savings  banks  or  war  bonds  for  the 
after  benefit  of  the  child.  This  would  in  most  cases  be 
a  lesson  in  thrift  to  the  children,  for  they  would  soon 
take  a  pride  in  adding  to  their  store.  The  business 
might  be  managed  by  a  committee  composed  chiefly  of 
those  whose  blind  hatred  of  the  theatre  has  led  to  the 
present  degraded  condition  of  our  stage.  If,  instead 
of  indulging  their  whimsy  of  holy  hatred  of  the  theatre, 
they  would  frankly  recognize  the  main  facts,  we  might 
move  towards  a  better  state  of  things,  both  behind  and 
in  front  of  the  curtain.  The  dominant  facts  of  the 
situation  are  these : 

(1)  The  theatre,  including  music  halls  and  variety 
houses,  is  sure  to  grow  in  popularity  and  in  influence. 

(2)  It  is  impossible  to  check  and  diminish  that  popu- 
larity and  influence  by  pecking  and  kicking  at  theatres 
with  constant,  meddling,  vexatious  interferences. 


Popular  Education  65 

(3)  There  will  always  be  abuses  and  evils  connected 
with  the  theatre,  especially  in  those  houses  that  give  an 
entertainment  deliberately  intended  to  appeal  to  foolish, 
frivolous,  and  sensual  tastes. 

(4)  These  abuses  and  evils  are  aggravated  and  in- 
creased by  the  absence  from  our  theatres  of  thoughtful 
people  in  search  of  sensible  amusement,  and  by  our  neg- 
lect of  serious  comedy  and  drama,  thus  giving  free  scope 
for  these  houses  to  flourish  and  multiply  in  boundless 
prosperity. 

(5)  The  abuses  and  evils  inseparably  connected  with 
theatres,  and  more  especially  with  those  of  a  certain 
class,  are  to  be  corrected,  or  very  largely  diminished, 
by  the  attendance  of  thoughtful  people  in  search  of  sen- 
sible amusement,  by  their  demand  for  a  better,  less  dis- 
solute,  and  less  imbecile  form1  of  national  entertain- 
ment; and,  chiefly,  when  the  time  and  conditions  shall 
be  favourable,  by  the  Government  aid  and  countenance 
of  a  serious,   national  drama  in  a  national   theatre. 
Surely  it  will  some  day  be  apparent  that  the  great  mass 
of  our  people  cannot  be  allowed  to  go  on  educating 
themselves  during  all  their  leisure  hours  in  outrageous 
tomfoolery  bordering  on  licentiousness  and  idiocy. 

I  commend  these  facts  and  considerations  to  the  ear- 
nest attention  of  that  small,  stubborn  sect  of  earnest 
people  who,  by  their  earnest  wrong-headedness  and  zeal- 
ous ignorance,  are  helping  to  multiply  those  very  abuses 
and  evils  in  the  theatre  which  they  are  trying  to  abol- 
ish. Let  them  desist  from  pecking  and  kicking  at  the 
theatre.  They  cannot  abolish  it.  They  cannot  shake  its 
growing  popularity.  They  may  do  something  to  make 
it  less  of  a  national  disgrace  and  reproach.  I  suggest 
that,  to  begin  with,  these  earnest  people  should  busy 
themselves  with  the  interests  of  the  children  of  the 


66  Patriotism  and 

theatre,  with  their  protection  from  unscrupulous  par- 
ents, and  with  the  careful  audit  and  investment  of  their 
little  savings. 

I  am  assuming,  sir,  that  you  will  favourably  consider 
the  facts  and  arguments  I  have  brought  before  you,  and 
that  you  will  modify  the  clause  in  your  bill  that  forbids 
the  employment  of  the  children  in  the  theatre,  so  far  as 
to  allow  their  appearance  under  careful  safeguards.  I 
have  dwelt  upon  this  matter  at  great  length,  because  I 
wished  to  place  you  in  possession  of  all  the  facts  relat- 
ing to  this  very  complicated  question.  It  cannot  be 
fairly  viewed  from  the  outside,  or  without  a  knowledge 
of  all  its  bearings.  Moreover,  I  am  afraid  that  of  all 
the  many  and  far  more  important  matters  that  I  am 
trying  to  bring  to  your  reluctant  attention  in  this  letter, 
this  question  is  the  only  one  that  stands  even  a  frac- 
tional chance  of  gaining  your  serious  consideration,  or 
of  changing  your  policy.  I  appeal  to  you,  sir,  to  allow 
children  to  take  their  place  in  what  I  hope  will  even- 
tually be  a  worthy  and  operative  English  theatre,  with 
a  great  and  real,  though  silent,  unobtrusive,  indirect, 
educational  influence  for  good  on  the  mass  of  the  Eng- 
lish people.  I  ask  this  because  it  tends  on  the  whole  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  the  children  themselves;  while 
it  also,  most  assuredly,  tends  to  bring  about  a  revival 
of  Shakespeare  and  of  serious  modern  drama.  I  leave 
the  matter  to  your  grave  and  careful  judgment. 

Upon  the  general  matter,  I  think  I  may  claim  to 
have  made  out  a  case  for  further  inquiry  into  the  con- 
nexion between  Popular  Education  and  Popular 
Amusement.  How  is  it  that  concurrently  with  the 
spread  of  Popular  Education  our  national  taste  in  the 
theatre  has  sunk  to  a  level  of  mere  banality,  vulgarity, 
and  buffoonery,  to  the  general  exclusion  of  all  serious 


Popular  Education  67 

thought  and  wise  enjoyment?  Why  is  it  that  even  re- 
fined and  cultivated  men  and  women  have  hecome  large- 
ly infected  with  the  popular  taste,  and  shut  off  their 
intelligence  when  they  enter  a  theatre?  Does  not  the 
condition  of  the  English  theatre  for  the  last  fifteen 
years  or  more,  indicate  the  same  general  carelessness  of 
mental  habit,  and  inability  to  think  -  clearly  and  seri- 
ously about  anything,  which  have  brought  upon  us  our 
present  grave,  national  perils  and  disasters?  May  not 
Government  wisely  concern  itself  with  the  universal 
prevalence  of  a  symptom  which  manifestly  points  either 
to  some  radical  defect  in  our  present  system  of  Popu- 
lar Education,  or  to  a  growing  derangement  and  deca- 
dence of  national  thought  and  feeling  which  a  sane  and 
healthy  Popular  Education  in  the  theatre  might  do 
something  to  correct  ? 

Again  I  contend  that  in  no  place  can  you  more  surely 
get  an  authentic  revelation  of  the  mental  capacity, 
tastes,  and  habits  of  the  people  than  in  their  popular 
theatres.  You  catch  them  there  in  mental  and  spiritual 
dishabille.  The  English  stage  has  lately  been  a  hideous 
exposure  of  our  unsightly  mental  and  spiritual  naked- 
ness. 

I  ask  you,  sir,  to  dwell  for  a  moment  on  the  compara- 
tive levels  of  Popular  Education  in  the  time  of  Eliza- 
beth and  in  our  present  time,  as  measured  by  the  popu- 
lar entertainments  in  their  respective  theatres.  There 
was  plenty  of  brutal,  obscene  amusement  in  the  days  of 
Elizabeth.  Doubtless  there  were  displays  which  would 
have  shocked  the  ears  and  eyes  of  many  of  the  frequent- 
ers of  our  present  popular  theatres,  though  I  question 
if  those  coarser  entertainments  of  a  coarser  and  more 
robust  age,  were  so  charged  with  insidious  corruption 
and  mental  depravity  as  some  of  our  present-day  enter- 


68  Patriotism  and 

taimnents.  But  alongside  those  brutal  exhibitions, 
there  flourished  the  greatest  drama  of  all  times. 

One  might  put  up  with  a  large  amount  of  tawdry, 
extravagant  display  and  witless  vulgarity — treating  it 
as  mere  holiday  exuberance — if  alongside  it  we  had  a 
vigorous,  sane,  modern  drama  that  addressed  itself  to 
intelligent  audiences.  But  the  music-hall  has  usurped 
and  devastated  nearly  all  the  evening  leisure  of  our 
masses.  It  is  our  national  school  of  taste  and  manners, 
and  it  clearly  indicates  the  level  and  the  drift  of  our 
Popular  Education. 

Consider,  sir,  what  is  implied  in  the  fact  that  the 
groundlings  in  Shakespeare's  day,  huddled  and  noisy 
and  uncomfortable,  could  understand  and  follow  with 
delight  the  lofty  diction  of  his  noblest  passages,  with 
their  swelling  torrents  of  passion  and  emotion ;  his  rich' 
native  humour;  his  pride  of  patriotism;  his  deep  re^ 
searches  into  the  human  heart ;  his  massive  portraiture 
of  permanent  types  of  character ;  his  bright  wisdom  and 
philosophy  of  life.  To  the  average  playgoer  in  the  pii 
to-day,  these  things  are  tiresome  and  dreary,  and  for  the 
most  part  even  meaningless  and  unintelligible.  If 
Shakespeare  went  out  of  his  way  to  express  his  con- 
tempt for  the  groundlings  of  his  time,  how  would  he 
tax  and  exhaust  his  vocabulary  of  scorn  to  castigate  our 
groundlings  of  to-day.  It  may  be  said  that  the  populace 
of  his  time  went  to  Shakespeare's  and  kindred  plays 
because  there  was  nothing  much  else  to  go  to.  This 
seems  to  show  the  advisability  of  declaring  a  close  time 
in  English  theatres,  when  none  but  Shakespeare's  plays 
would  be  allowed  performance,  as  I  have  already  sug- 
gested. My  old  carpenter  spoke  good  English  because 
he  habitually  read  the  Bible  and  the  "Pilgrim's  Prog- 
ress/' and  very  little  else  came  in  his  way.  At  any  rate, 


Popular  Education  69 

a  rery  large  number  amongst  Shakespeare's  audiences 
must  have  enjoyed,  and  must  have  understood  his  plays, 
or  they  would  not  have  been  popular.  You  cannot  drag 
people  to  see  plays  that  do  not  amuse  and  interest  them. 
How  is  it,  sir,  that  the  common  people  in  Shakespeare's 
day  had  received  an  education  that  fitted  them  to  enjoy 
and  appreciate  him  as  popular  entertainment,  while 
Popular  Education  to-day  seems  to  fit  them  to  enjoy  lit- 
tle but  stewed  and  clotted  vulgarity  and  nonsense,  and 
scarcely  anything  that  demands  from  them  a  moment 
of  serious  thought  or  energy  of  attention? 

It  is  gratifying  to  learn  that  you  have  lately  decreed 
that  there  shall  be  an  annual  Shakespeare  day  in  all  our 
schools.  We  may  hope  that  this  will  lead  to  such  a 
study  and  knowledge  of  his  plays  as  will  prepare  our 
children  to  become  frequent  visitors  to  him  in  his  nat- 
ural home — the  theatre.  We  should  not  allow  Shake- 
speare to  become  merely  the  parchment  hobby  of  text 
correctors,  and  the  convenient  peg  for  scholars  to  hang 
a  reputation  upon.  We  should  not  even  allow  him  to 
remain  merely  our  dearest  and  most  cherished  library 
friend.  Shakespeare  should  be  our  chief  inspirer  in  the 
theatre ;  our  enthralling  showman  of  the  deep  mysteries 
of  human  life;  our  guide  through  its  dark  circles,  as 
Virgil  was  to  Dante ;  at  one  moment  snatching  us  to  the 
brink  of  shuddering  precipes,  and  holding  us  breathless 
over  roaring  gulfs  and  torrents  of  passion  and  madness 
and  despair;  and  at  another  roystering  and  carousing 
with  us  in  a  jolly  tavern;  sometimes,  with  all  his  ban- 
ners flying,  and  all  his  drums  beating,  and  all  his  trum- 
pets blowing,  marching  with  us  to  immortal  fields  of 
glorious  battles  in  France;  and  again  merrymaking 
with  us  at  a  village  sheep-shearing,  or  chatting  and  jest- 
ing with  us  under  the  shades  of  Arden.  He  should  be 


70  Patriotism  and 

our  easy,  adaptable  friend,  fitting  himself  to  all  our 
moods;  our  stern  counsellor;  our  grave  adviser;  our 
boon  companion;  our  laughing  philosopher — all  th^se 
should  Shakespeare  be  to  us  in  his  natural  home,  the 
English  theatre.  All  these  Shakespeare  has  been  to 
English  playgoers  in  the  past,  and  might  again  become. 
But  we  have  kicked  him  out  of  his  own  royal  domain, 
and  in  his  place  we  have  enthroned — what  ? 

For  dost  thou  know,  oh  Damon  dear, 
This  realm  dismantled  was 
Of  Jove  himself,  and  now  reigns  here 
A  very  very — Pajock. 

Ah,  sir,  do  but  see  what  our  popular  theatres  have 
become  under  the  ravages  of  Popular  Education !  May 
I  again  respectfully  urge  upon  you  that  the  matter,  in 
its  serious  implications,  is  one  that  calls  for  some 
searching  inquiry  from  the  Minister  of  Education  ? 

If  you  reply  that  this  matter  is  one  that  falls  within 
the  province  of  the  Home  Office,  I  am  aware  that  in  its 
larger  developments  it  remains  to  be  dealt  with  by  that 
department.  And  when  the  times  are  less  troubled  and 
anxious,  I  hope  the  Home  Office  may  be  brought  to 
see  the  wisdom,  nay  the  national  necessity,  of  consid- 
ering it.  At  present,  with  other  weightier  concerns,  it 
must  be  left  in  abeyance.  But  meantime,  may  not  the 
Minister  of  Education  be  invited  to  lend  a  hand  in 
sweeping  away  some  of  the  worst  abuses  of  the  English 
Theatre,  and  in  making  it  less  of  a  national  reproach 
and  disgrace? 

I  maintain  that  merely  as  an  instrument  of  "general" 
education,  Shakespeare  is  the  greatest,  wisest,  and  by 
far  the  cheapest  schoolmaster  you  can  appoint.  Por 
with  some  small  and  constant  encouragement  and  out- 
lay— a  mere  drop  in  the  bucket  of  your  annual  expendi- 


Popular  Education  71 

ture — the  people,  if  rightly  led,  will  themselves  pay  for 
his  teaching  with  the  money  they  are  now  wasting  upon 
the  foolish  and  often  noisome  trash  that  they  call 
"amusement"  Will  you  not  assist,  sir,  in  making 
Shakespeare  popular  in  the  only  sphere  where  he  will 
ever  command  a  wide  and  compulsive  influence  upon 
the  tastes,  habits  of  thought,  characters,  and  daily  con- 
duct of  the  populace — the  theatres  of  his  native  land? 
Feeling  convinced  of  the  great  importance  of  this 
matter,  and  having  an  inside  knowledge  of  it,  I  have 
tried  to  explore  it  thoroughly,  and  to  put  it  before  you 
in  all  its  bearings,  so  that  you  may  see  how  intimately 
it  is  woven  with  Popular  Education  in  the  web  of  our 
national  life.  Again,  I  leave  it  to  your  careful  _and  de- 
liberate judgment. 


CHAPTER  III 

(May— June  1918) 

POPUXAB  EDUCATION  AND  POLITICS  BEFORE  THE 

Political  Dogma  and  Religious  Dogma — Impossibility  of  Draw- 
ing up  indisputable  codes  for  children — General  Education  a  very 
devious  compass — The  question  of  transcendent  importance  from 
1890  onwards — Popular  Education  opposed  to  teaching  future 
citizens  their  chief  duty — Consequent  immeasurable  cost  to  the 
nation — Lack  of  vision  and  guidance — The  unreturning  wheel  of 
fate — Germans  teach  us  what  Popular  Education  failed  to  teach 
us — Blindness  of  our  politicians  due  to  Popular  Education — The 
housemaid's  excuse,  "It  shan't  happen  again" — Where  lay  the 
fault? — Intellectual  dishonesty  the  worst  of  mental  ailments — 
Endemic  at  Westminster — Boy  scouts  movement  more  beneficial 
than  school  teaching — Intractibility  of  "young  persons" — Cicero 
and  Euclid  the  safest  companions  for  them — Economic  benefit 
of  continuation  classes — Rosy  estimate  of  its  amount — Not  one 
hundredth  of  the  national  loss  caused  by  neglect  of  Popular 
Education  to  teach  our  boys  their  first  duty. 

F  HAVE  finished  the  task  that  I  set  before  me  when 
•*•  I  began  this  letter.  I  have  examined  some  of  the 
tendencies  and  results  of  our  present  system  of  Popular 
Education  as  they  appear  in  the  quality  of  much  of  the 
daily  work  that  is  being  done  by  the  people,  and  in  the 
quality  of  the  vast  proportion  of  our  popular  evening 
amusements.  But  all  through  my  argument,  I  have 
been  constantly  reminded  that,  important  as  these  mat- 
ters may  be  in  themselves,  they  recede  into  a  negligible 
background  in  presence  of  the  life-and-death  conflict 
which  we  are  hourly  waging  before  a  drawn  curtain 

72 


Popular  Education  78 

that  Hides  from  us  unimaginable  issues  to  all  our  nar 
tional  endeavours  and  undertakings. 

I  am  painfully  aware,  sir,  that  I  am  making  an 
altogether  inconsiderate  use  of  my  privilege  of  address- 
ing you.  But  will  you  forgive  me  if  I  go  on  to  trace 
the  connexions  of  Popular  Education  with  the  main 
drift  of  political  thought  and  action  that  has  guided  our 
nation  during  the  past  most  critical  twenty  years,  when 
we  should  have  been  preparing  for  this  irrevocable  de- 
cision of  our  fate  ?  And  may  I  also  try  to  push  for  a 
few  uncertain  steps  into  the  tangles  and  obscurity  that 
will  encompass  this  country  after  the  war,  so  far  as 
Popular  Education  may  help  us  to  find  our  way 
amongst  them,  or  may  only  the  more  darkly  involve  us  I 

Obviously  the  Board  of  Education  is  not  able  to  give 
our  children  a  course  of  instruction  in  practical — that 
is,  in  party  politics.  For  as  you  know,  sir,  there  are 
virtually  no  practical  politics  in  England  outside  party 
politics.  It  would  be  as  difficult  to  draw  up  for  our 
children  a  code  of  indisputable  political  dogma,  as  it 
has  been  found  to  draw  up  for  them  a  code  of  indisputa- 
ble religious  dogma.  Yet  these  two  subjects,  more  than 
all  others,  are  those  upon  which  it  is  of  sovereign  im- 
portance for  our  future  citizens  to  be  guided  towards  a 
sound  judgment.  For  the  right  conduct  of  our  daily 
lives  depends  upon  our  religious  belief  and  practice,  and 
the  right  conduct  of  the  nation's  affairs  depends  upon 
our  political  belief  and  practice.  And  we  do  not  escape 
from  our  religious  and  political  difficulties  by  wrapping 
them  up  in  generalities  and  phrases,  and  making  tempo- 
rary concessions  to  popular  ignorance  and  passion.  All 
political  and  religious  difficulties  that  are  so  evaded, 
return  upon  us  in  a  short  time  with  multiplied  clamours 
to  be  faced  and  fought  out  Now,  more  than  ever  in 


74  Patriotism  and 

our  history,  we  are  called  upon  to  find  a  sure  reason 
for  our  beliefs  and  practice.  And  now  more  than  ever 
we  are  wandering  in  confusion  and  indecision  about 
many  of  the  matters  upon  which  a  plain  "Yes"  or  "No" 
is  of  necessity  for  our  national  existence. 

But  upon  most  of  the  turbulent  questions  that  are 
gathering  in  force  to  perplex  and  divide  the  nation  in 
the  coming  years,  you  can  give  no  authoritative  instruc- 
tion to  your  scholars.  ISTow,  at  this  tremendous  mo- 
ment, and  at  all  others,  when  opposing  sign-posts  stand 
at  the  crossways  of  our  nation's  destiny,  to  point  us  to 
safety  or  to  cheat  us  to  destruction,  you  cannot  issue 
a  loud  imperative  order  to  your  hosts  of  future  citizens, 
"To  the  right!"  or  "To  the  left!"  You  may,  indeed, 
give  them  a  very  devious  jerky  compass  of  "general" 
education,  but  you  cannot  tell  them  plainly  that  the 
main  highway  of  the  nation's  safety  runs  to  the  nortH 
or  to  the  south,  to  the  east  or  to  the  west.  For  on  many 
of  the  matters  upon  which  it  is,  perhaps,  life  or  death 
to  get  right  leadership,  one  party  of  our  politicians,  as 
soon  as  the  war  is  over,  will  be  pressing  headlong  to  the 
north,  and  another  will  be  scrambling  to  the  south,  and 
the  remainder  will  be  running  about  the  country  in  bye 
lanes  of  their  own  choosing. 

You  will  claim  that  the  "general"  education  you  are 
giving  your  scholars  in  history,  in  economics,  and  in 
political  science  will  guide  them  by  and  by  to  form  a 
sound  opinion  upon  each  question  of  national  impor- 
tance as  it  arises. 

Is  that  not  refuted  by  our  present  experience  ?  What 
was  the  question  of  transcendant  importance  for  every 
Englishman  to  consider  and  reconsider,  and  to  form  a, 
right  opinion  upon,  from  the  years  1890  onwards — the 
question  upon  whose  solution  then,  his  very  daily  bread 


Popular  Education  75 

depends  to-day,  his  whole  resources,  his  life  and  the 
lives  of  those  dearest  to  him,  and  the  future  of  the  Brit- 
ish Empire?  Surely,  in  comparison  with  the  question 
of  whether  he  should  be  ready  to  defend  his  native  land, 
there  was  no  other  question  that  was  worth  a  careless 
toss  of  his  mind.  Other  questions  there  were  of  the 
utmost  importance  in  our  internal  economy,  but  till 
this  was  settled  they  were  of  mere  parochial  dimensions. 
For  they  were  all  dependent  upon  the  right  solution  of 
this  one  question. 

I  am  sure  you  will  be  both  indignant  and  amused  at 
what  seems  like  an  attempt  to  saddle  the  blame  for  the 
war  upon  our  system  of  Popular  Education.  You  will 
ask  what  the  Board  of  Education  had  to  do  with  the 
war,  how  it  was  concerned  to  foresee  it,  how  it  could 
have  helped  to  prevent  it,  or  sensibly  to  diminish  its 
duration  and  the  magnitude  of  its  ravages. 

If  you  will  bear  with  me,  sir,  I  am  searching  for  the 
foundations  of  Popular  Education.  I  am  trying  to  find 
out  whether  there  are  not  one  or  two  great  fundamental 
rules  and  principles  which  must  form  the  basis  of  any 
stable  and  durable  system,  in  the  same  way  that  the 
sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  commandments  form  the  ba-. 
sis  of  any  stable  and  durable  system  of  law  and  civilized 
society.  Dealing  with  our  daily  work,  I  tried  to  show 
that  the  first  rule  of  all  Popular  Education  is  to  teach 
every  child  to  do  his  individual  work  thoroughly,  hon- 
estly, and  with  all  his  might,  and  to  train  him  betimes 
for  that  individual  work.  This  governing  rule  should 
underlie  all  Popular  Education.  It  is  strange  that 
after  fifty  years  one  should  be  able  to  announce  it  as 
something  of  a  discovery.  It  is  so  obvious  that  it  has 
been  almost  forgotten.  I  daresay  educational  experts 
are  smiling  at  me.  They  will  smile  again,  or  perhaps 


76  Patriotism  and 

be  very  angry,  when  I  say  that  another  governing  rule 
or  principle  of  Popular  Education  should  be  to  impress 
every  boy  with  the  idea  that  it  is  his  duty  to  defend  his 
country,  and  to  prepare  him  so  far  that  he  may  easily 
be  made  fit  for  that  duty. 

If  this  is  scouted  or  contested,  let  me  claim  no  more 
than  this  for  the  moment,  that  had  this  duty  been  made 
a  part  of  our  system  of  Popular  Education  for  the  last 
generation,  we  might  possibly  have  been  spared  the 
war  altogether ;  or,  if  that  is  unlikely,  we  should,  with 
quite  a  comparatively  small  outlay  of  treasure  and  sac- 
rifice of  men,  have  gained  a  decisive  and  much  earlier 
victory.  It  is  improbable  that  a  general  European  war 
could  have  been  avoided,  but  at  a  moderate  estimate 
we  could  have  won  it  at  less  than  a  third  of  our  present 
costs  of  all  kinds.  The  incalculable  expenditure  of 
money  and  resources,  the  sorrows  and  horrors  that  have 
no  end,  the  insecurities  and  perils  of  the  future,  would 
have  been  vastly  diminished  and  brought  into  an  easily 
manageable  compass,  if  only  the  simple  rule  of  giving 
our  elder  boys  some  preparation  for  the  defence  of  their 
country  had  been  adopted  in  past  years.  There  can 
surely  be  no  doubt  of  this,  for  we  had  the  wealth,  the 
command  of  the  seas,  the  unbounded  natural  resources 
of  our  Empire,  and  the  matchless  strength  and  valour 
of  that  English  manhood  which  is  hourly  showing  itself 
invincible.  We  had  it  all  in  large  easy  surplus  and  un- 
challengeable supremacy.  We  needed  but  to  hold  our 
right  hand  ready  for  its  defence,  and  we  could  have 
made  it  sure  for  long  cycles  to  come.  And  this  we  could 
easily  have  done  at  less  than  a  third  of  our  present  woe- 
ful costs  of  all  kinds. 

However  mistaken  and  pernicious  my  proposal  may 
be  in  theory,  who  can  doubt  that  if  it  had  been  put  into 


Popular  Education  77 

practice  thirty  years  ago,  it  would  have  spared  us  more 
than  two-thirds  of  the  miseries  and  expense  of  this  pres- 
ent war,  with  its  never-ending  roll  of  dead  and  wound- 
ed, and  its  threatening  outlook  of  prolonged  national 
poverty  and  semi-bankruptcy.  It  may  be  a  most  vicious 
and  reprehensible  principle  that  I  am  advocating,  but, 
put  into  active  working  a  generation  ago,  its  pregnant 
result  would  have  been  that  at  this  hour,  instead  of 
waiting  in  a  dreadful  hush  of  expectancy  for  renewed 
unknown  emergencies,  sacrifices,  and  calamities,  we 
should  now  be  the  peaceful  citizens  of  a  strengthened 
and  unassailable  British  Empire,  with  all  its  borders 
secure,  with  all  its  impulses  quickened,  with  all  its  ac- 
tivities enlarged,  with  its  future  prosperity  assured, 
and  offering  with  both  hands  a  rich  choice  of  happy  des- 
tinies to  its  millions  of  sons. 

That  would  have  been  our  position  to-day  if  the 
defence  of  our  country  had  been  made  a  part  of  our 
"general"  education  a  generation  ago.  What  a  roar  of 
fury  and  anger  would  have  gone  up  through  all  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  if  it  had  been  proposed 
to  teach  and  enforce  this  first  duty  of  citizenship !  But, 
sir,  this  very  obvious  duty,  and  this  very  opprobrious 
doctrine  are  what  we  have  been  teaching  to  every  man 
and  boy  in  the  Empire  for  the  last  four  years,  by  every 
mouth  and  every  agency,  in  every  paper,  from  every 
pulpit,  on  every  hoarding  in  every  city.  And  we  have 
had  to  teach  it  in  all  the  scuffle  of  hurry,  disorganiza- 
tion, alarm,  and  desperation. 

And  at  what  a  cost !  Would  it  not  have  been  better 
to  have  made  it  a  part  of  our  scheme  of  "general"  edu- 
cation twenty  or  thirty  years  ago,  to  have  taught  it  in 
no  spirit  of  defiance  or  militarism,  but  as  a  necessary 
insurance  against  irretrievable  national  disaster,  with  a 


78  Patriotism  and 

wide  view  of  our  great  responsibilities  and  our  great 
possessions,  with  a  calm  determination  to  accept  our 
responsibilities,  and  to  defend  our  possessions? 

While  I  have  been  writing  this  letter  to  you,  Eng- 
land has  been  throwing  into  the  furnace  of  the  great 
battle,  like  mere  stubble  and  faggots  upon  a  bonfire, 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  her  sons,  the  vigour  and  prom- 
ise of  her  remaining  manhood,  many  of  them  little  more 
than  boys  who  a  few  years  ago  were  shouting  in  their 
playgrounds.  There  they  have  stood,  those  schoolboys 
of  yesterday,  waiting  their  turns  to  be  sacrificed ;  fight- 
ing, agonizing,  dying  in  cheerful  recklessness ;  called  to 
their  fearful  destiny  by  our  political  teachers  and  lead- 
ers and  rulers  of  past  years,  who  had  ears  but  would 
not  hear,  and  eyes  but  would  not  see. 

Not  from  lack  of  bravery  and  valiancy  of  manhood, 
O  dear,  dear  land,  not  from  lack  of  devotion  to  thee 
and  high-tuned  self-sacrificing  spirit,  but  from  lack  of 
vision,  from  lack  of  guidance,  art  thou  to-day  set  about 
with  dangers  and  uncertainties,  staggering  and  batter- 
ing a  dreadful  path  towards  that  still  distant  goal, 
drained  of  thy  treasure,  drained  of  thy  heart's  blood, 
but  stronger  than  ever  in  reserves  of  steadfast  endur- 
ance, and  richer  than  ever  in  stores  of  deathless  re- 
solve ! 

And  with  right  vision,  with  right  guidance,  we  could 
so  easily  have  forestalled  all  these  frightful  commit- 
ments, and  bought  our  national  security  at  a  fraction 
of  our  present  debts  and  losses  and  sufferings.  Some- 
times, on  a  still  night,  a  quiver  of  the  south-east  wind 
brings  to  our  straining  ears  a  faint,  distant  thud,  more 
like  a  pulse  of  the  air  than  a  sound,  and  we  know  that 
two  or  three  minutes  ago  that  muffled  pad  in  the  silence 
was  a  roaring  thunder  crash  in  Flanders,  which  perhaps 


Popular  Education  79 

laid  desolate  English  homes,  and  left  them  in  loneli- 
ness that  will  never  be  comforted,  and  in  sorrow  that 
will  never  be  assuaged.  Ceaselessly,  ceaselessly,  with 
ever  blazing  lust  and  energy  of  destruction,  those  thun- 
der crashes  have  violated  the  air,  and  poisoned  the 
earth,  and  beaten  into  the  dust  our  dearest  flesh  and 
our  fairest  hopes.  Ceaselessly,  ceaselessly,  with  no  re- 
gard for  the  hours  and  the  seasons  and  the  years,  they 
have  blasted  out  havoc  and  death.  Their  clamour  is 
never  quelled ;  their  hunger  is  never  appeased.  And  it 
goes  on.  The  mad,  insatiate,  remorseless  engine  goes 
on.  Already  the  sum  of  its  ruin  and  devastation  is  past 
all  count,  all  picturing.  It  goes  on.  Who  can  dare 
to  guess  what  infinite,  unimaginable  toll  of  sacrifice  and 
suffering  it  may  yet  exact  from  us,  and  leave  us  to 
bear  ?  It  goes  on. 

And  so  easily  in  the  bygone  careless  years,  we  might 
have  paid  the  fractional  price  of  redemption  from  its 
worst  evils  and  miseries  and  losses. 

If  by  some  touch  of  our  finger  upon  the  wheel  of  fate, 
some  sleight  of  mind  beyond  any  wonder  of  magic,  we 
could  now  instantly  arrest  the  long,  blind,  labouring 
march  of  those  millions  tramping  towards  anguish,  mu- 
tilation, and  nameless  graves ;  ransom  our  kin  from  all 
the  hazards  of  wounds  and  death;  convoy  them  safely 
home,  and  set  them  busy  about  their  cheerful  custom- 
ary tasks  of  peace — If  by  some  divine  alchemy  of  heal- 
ing, we  could  make  whole  every  tortured  limb;  unseal 
every  blinded  eye;  raze  out  the  written  troubles  from 
every  distracted  brain;  build  up  every  broken  body  in 
its  former  glad  soundness  and  strength ;  dismantle  every 
hospital  of  its  ghastly  array,  and  give  every  inmate  a 
full  discharge  and  warranty  of  health — If  we  could  re- 
lease all  our  despairing  prisoners  bowed  down  with 


80  Patriotism  and 

misery,  starvation,  loathsome  insult,  and  grinding  toil 
and  torment  in  that  inhuman  land;  cancel  their  mar- 
tyrdoms, and  give  them  again  their  birthright  of  native 
freedom — If  we  could  cleanse  our  hearts  of  this  gnaw- 
ing, clinging,  unsleeping  worm  of  suspense  and  ache 
and  dread,  and  he  once  more  at  ease  in  our  undarkened 
homes;  if  we  could  untie  all  the  hands  that  are  now 
slaving  in  the  service  of  death  and  destruction,  and  put 
them  to  the  uses  and  ministry  of  health  and  life ;  if  we 
could  write  off  the  heavy  mortgages  of  our  children's 
inheritance  that  we  have  given  to  the  extortionate  fu- 
ture ;  silence  every  alarm  of  war,  and  set  straight  all  it$ 
confusions  and  disorders — If  we  could  work  this  mir- 
ale  of  enfranchisement,  not  only  in  our  own  land,  but 
in  all  our  sister  lands,  in  outraged  Belgium  and  Ser- 
bia, in  demented  Russia,  and  in  stricken,  ravished 
France ;  raise  again  the  stones  of  her  desecrated  churches 
and  ruined  towns,  and  dress  them  in  all  their  mellowed 
beauty  and  seductive  grace;  wipe  away  the  bestial  pol- 
lution of  her  soil,  and  plant  her  stark  desolation  with 
gardens  and  harvests  and  homesteads — If  now,  when 
the  red  May  blossoms  are  falling  on  our  English  lawns, 
and  the  red  blood  drops  are  falling  on  the  slopes  of  the 
Aisne,  we  could  staunch  every  wound  of  the  war,  strike 
back  the  sharpened  pendulum  that  swings  its  keen  edge 
towards  the  entrails  of  France — If  we  could  dissolve 
all  the  shuddering  spectacle  that  stretches  from  the  sand 
dunes  of  the  North  Sea  to  the  pools  of  the  Adriatic; 
avert  and  frustrate  the  great  doom  that  hangs  over  the 
nations;  tear  out  these  foul  records  from  the  book  of 
history,  and  laugh  at  them  as  foolish  tales  of  necro- 
mancy; roll  into  oblivion  all  the  terrors,  wrongs,  cruel- 
ties, despairs,  crimes,  and  abominations  of  these  last 
years — If  we  could  gather  from  the  clods  of  Flanders 


Popular  Education  81 

and  Picardy  the  crumbling  remains  of  our  lost  ones,  and 
bid  them  leap  to  life,  washed  from  all  charnel  taints, 
clasp  them  to  us  again,  husband  to  wife,  son  to  mother, 
lover  to  dear  affianced  bride ;  the  myriads  of  our  slaugh- 
tered dead,  redeemed  from  the  grave,  warm  with  throb- 
bing life  in  our  arms,  their  steps  once  more  upon  the 
stairs,  their  faces  at  the  daily  table,  their  voices  min- 
gling again  with  ours  in  homely  talk  and  jest 

If  we  could  annul  it  all!  If  we  could  awake  from 
this  nightmare,  and  find  our  fond  imagining  to  be  so- 
ber, happy  truth !  If  we  could  issue  this  fiat  and  see 
it  accomplished  before  our  eyes! 

But  this  power  was  largely  in  our  hands  a  generation 
ago,  if  we  had  but  used  it.  Not  all  of  this  beneficent 
witchcraft  could  have  been  wrought  by  the  wisest  na- 
tional foresight,  the  alivest  and  most  patient  states- 
manship, the  most  united  discipline  of  patriotism  in  a 
populace  educated  to  know  and  understand  the  things 
that  make  for  its  lasting  welfare  and  peace.  Not  all  of 
it,  but  surely  the  vastly  greater  part.  Surely  our  pres- 
ent national  dangers  and  perplexities  and  losses  could 
have  been  largely  avoided,  and  we  could  at  this  moment 
have  been  in  easy  and  tranquil  possession  of  our  van- 
ished treasures  and  sanctities  and  securities,  if  those 
who  directed  Popular  and  Political  Education  twenty 
years  ago  had  recognized  and  upheld  the  principle  that 
I  am  advocating ;  if  they  had  instilled  into  the  mind  of 
every  boy  that  it  is  his  duty  to  be  ready  to  defend  his 
country,  and  if  they  had  given  him  some  early  rudi- 
mentary training. 

Why  was  it  not  done  ?  The  need  for  it  was  plain  be- 
fore our  eyes,  and  crying  into  our  ears.  We  have  done 
it  since  with  all  our  might  and  main.  What  our  Popu- 
lar Educators  would  not  teach  us,  the  Germans  have 


82  Patriotism  and 

taught  us;  and  with  all  their  characteristic  thorough- 
ness. Our  lesson  has  cost  us  already  some  six  or  eight 
thousand  millions  of  pounds,  which  may  amount  to  dou- 
ble before  we  have  finally  dismissed  our  teachers.  And 
we  could  have  done  it  for  ourselves  at  a  fifth  or  a  tenth 
of  the  cost !  Can  it  be  such  a  very  vicious  principle 
that  saves  us  thousands  of  millions  of  pounds  and  the 
best  manhood  of  our  country — even  if  it  only  does  us 
this  service  once  in  fifty  years  or  so;  even  if  its  sover- 
eign importance  only  becomes  apparent  when  we  have 
recklessly  flouted  and  denied  it,  or  never  becomes  ap- 
parent at  all  to  the  multitude,  because  its  very  opera- 
tion prevents  them  from  seeing  the  evils  it  guards  them 
against  ? 

Can  it  be  such  a  very  vicious  principle  ?'  Why  did  we 
not  set  about  instructing  our  boys  in  their  primary  duty 
of  defending  their  country  in  1890  instead  of  1914? 
Who  laughs  at  me  for  making  such  a  preposterous  sug- 
gestion? The  carnage  and  misery  and  ruin  that  are 
spread  over  Europe  laugh  at  him.  In  those  years  we 
had  in  our  hands  the  instrument  of  our  deliverance 
from  the  worst  of  our  present  losses  and  calamities,  if 
we  had  but  perceived  the  truth  of  this  first  principle  of 
National  Education  which  I  am  affirming.  But  that 
truth  had  lain  so  long  neglected  in  the  national  soul 
that  it  had  become  bedridden.  Even  to-day  many  of 
our  politicians  are  trying  to  legislate  for  the  years 
before  the  war,  are  still  living  in  a  little  world  of  party 
exigencies  and  opportunities. 

What  is  of  importance  for  every  one  of  us  to  remem- 
ber to-day,  and  this  with  no  thought  of  useless  re-crimi- 
nation, in  no  spirit  of  political  partizanship,  with  no 
motive  of  political  gain,  but  only  with  a  fervent  desire 
to  find  a  body  of  men  who  will  faithfully  direct  the 


Popular  Education  83 

aims  and  energies  of  this  nation  to  large  and  fruitful 
issues  in  a  world  where  all  will  he  changed,  and  where 
all  our  old  political  watchwords  and  catchwords  will  he 
as  idle  as  the  wagging  of  gossips'  tongues  round  a  vil- 
lage pump  a  hundred  years  ago — what  is  of  importance 
for  every  one  of  us  to  remember  for  our  guidance  in  that 
unknown  future,  is  the  fact  that,  for  a  generation  he- 
fore  the  war,  our  politicians  of  all  parties  ignored  the 
clearly  visible  portents  and  the  clearly  audible  mutter- 
ings  of  the  storm  that  was  gathering  to  shake  the  earth ; 
ignored  them,  despised  them,  or  mocked  at  them ;  lulled 
the  country  into  false  security;  minding  only  the  po- 
litical accommodations  of  the  hour;  taking  no  heed 
of  the  great  permanent  laws  of  national  welfare;  fatu- 
ous, flaccid,  supine;  more  hlind  than  Balaam,  less  wise 
than  Balaam's  ass,  for  the  ass  saw  plainly  enough  the 
threatening  angel  of  the  Lord,  standing  hut  a  few  steps 
onward  with  a  drawn  sword  in  his  hand. 

Our  politicians  went  their  way,  pursuing  the  path  to 
national  disaster ;  husily  setting  vote  traps  for  an  elec- 
torate muddled  and  dizzied  and  uproarious  with  sips 
and  rinsings  of  "general"  education;  marketing  in 
spurious  prosperity;  managing  our  great  Empire  as  a 
factory  for  turning  out  social  reforms  at  the  shortest 
possible  notice ;  or  as  a  quack  medicine  shop  with  a  mi- 
raculous specific  for  every  disease  of  the  body  politic; 
or  as  a  universal  emporium  for  distributing  bagman's 
bliss  and  bank  holiday  liberty  to  everybody  at  the  low- 
est possible  price. 

Some  of  the  social  reforms  were  necessary,  beneficial, 
urgent;  many  of  them  were  the  mere  whimsies  and 
topsy-turvies  of  fanatical  cliques,  or  grabbings  to  get 
hold  of  the  national  counterpane  which  covers  us  all; 
pilferings  of  the  stores  of  the  commonwealth  for  the 


84  Patriotism  and 

benefit  of  a  class  or  a  private  interest.  All  of  the  social 
reform  legislation  of  the  years  before  the  war  was  of 
small  importance  or  value  compared  with  the  necessity 
for  preparing  our  citizens  to  defend  their  country. 

Is  that  denied?  Will  anyone  name  any  half-dozen 
measures  passed  in  those  years,  that  saved  or  gained  the 
country  so  much  as  a  twentieth  part  of  what  we  should 
have  saved  or  gained  by  the  timely  instruction  of  our 
boyhood  and  manhood  in  the  performance  of  this  first 
duty  to  the  State,  and  by  shaping  our  national  course 
with  a  provident  foresight  of  the  ever  threatening  and 
darkening  future? 

But  our  politicians  of  both  parties  disregarded  this 
first  great  national  duty,  put  it  aside;  the  influential 
majority  of  them  denounced  all  suggestion  of  it  as  some- 
thing absurd,  superfluous,  barbarous,  criminal,  and— 
so  terribly  expensive.  Expensive!  Besides  all  this,  to 
train  our  boys  in  a  sober,  unoffending,  but  resolute 
patriotism,  would  have  shown  an  unworthy  suspicion 
and  distrust  of  our  good  neighbour,  Germany,  not  to 
be  harboured  in  gentle,  pacific,  British  breasts. 

Why  did  our  politicians  neglect  and  despise  this  first 
great  national  duty  all  through  the  years  when,  of  all 
the  years  of  our  long  history,  its  obligations  were  most 
plain  and  most  imperative,  when  every  movement  that 
Germany  made  was  a  manifest  declaration  of  her  in- 
tent; when  every  consideration  of  prudent  national 
economy,  every  admonition  of  the  past,  and  every  au- 
gury of  the  future  incessantly  called  upon  them  to  fulfil 
it  ?  Were  they  so  destitute  of  natural  sagacity  as  to  be 
unable  to  see  that  our  great  Empire  and  all  our  posses- 
sions were  vulnerable,  and  were  unprotected  on  every 
side,  and  lay  at  the  mercy  of  any  chance  outbreak  of 
envy  or  malice?  I  will  not  rate  their  intelligence  so 


Popular  Education  85 

meanly  as  to  think  it.  Were  they,  as  the  credulous 
populace  now  believe,  the  secret  friends,  the  subsidized 
agents,  or  the  blackmailed  dependents  of  our  enemy, 
conscious  and  active  traitors  to  their  country?  I  will 
not  rate  my  own  intelligence  so  meanly  as  to  think  it. 

There  may  be  a  few  shady  and  disreputable  transac- 
tions on  the  part  of  individuals  which  up  to  the  pres- 
ent are  unrevealed  and  unproved.  But  I  am  persuaded 
that  the  general  body  of  English  politicians  were  and 
are  as  irreprochable  in  matters  of  personal  honour  as 
any  other  class,  and  have  made,  and  are  ready  to  make, 
as  great  and  willing  sacrifices  for  the  national  safety. 

Why,  then,  in  the  generation  before  the  war,  were 
they  so  blind  to  our  great  permanent  interests ;  why,  in 
this  first  duty  of  preparing  and  providing  for  our  de- 
fence, were  they  so  lax,  so  neglectful,  so  heedless  of 
their  high  responsibilities  ?  Why  were  many  influential 
members  of  them  so  loud  and  busy  in  leading  the  na- 
tion towards  our  present  perils  and  disasters  ? 

It  may  be  urged  that  the  nation  itself  was  responsi- 
ble, since  it  put  these  politicians  in  power.  But  what 
kind  of  Political  Education  had  the  nation  received? 
What  were  its  leading  principles  and  tenets?  Whence 
were  they  derived? 

What  part  and  influence  had  Popular  Education  in 
shaping  the  mould  of  political  thought,  and  cutting  the 
main  channels  of  political  action?  For  though  it  is 
plain,  sir,  that  you  cannot  issue  a  set  of  political  opin- 
ions to  your  scholars,  I  am  sure  you  would  agree  that 
the  general  policy  of  your  office,  its  main  principles  and 
aims,  must  largely  determine  the  political  bias  of  the 
next  generation,  must  prompt  certain  political  im- 
pulses, and  give  direction  and  impetus  to  much  of  our 
forthcoming  legislation.  Indeed,  I  suppose  you  would 


86  Patriotism  and 

claim  that  it  is  one  of  the  chief  objects  of  Popular 
Education  to  train  a  future  electorate  to  demand  wise 
legislation. 

Would  you  say  that  up  till  now,  our  system  of  Popu- 
lar Education  has  attained  that  primary  object  ?  Would 
you  say  that  it  was  wise  legislation  that  left  undefended 
all  the  sources  of  our  national  prosperity  and  well-be- 
ing; all  our  store  of  accumulated  wealth;  all  the  wide, 
rich  stretches  of  our  scattered  dominions ;  left  to  hazard 
the  daily  bread  and  means  of  livelihood  of  every  one 
of  us;  left  all  the  jewels  of  our  Empire  displayed  in 
manifest  insecurity,  and  gave  a  careless  general  invita- 
tion to  a  cunning  envious  enemy  to  drop  in  and  plunder 
us  at  any  time  convenient  to  him  ?  In  view  of  our  pres- 
ent situation,  would  you  affirm  that  the  greater  part  of 
our  social,  and  much  of  our  imperial  legislation  has 
not  been  misguided  and  chaotic ;  heedful  only  of  minor 
or  imaginary  necessities;  blind  to  our  real  and  immi- 
nent emergencies;  inspired  by  no  clear  national  pur- 
pose, except  that  of  giving  a  good,  easy  time  to  every- 
body who  would  only  vote  hard  and  persistently  for  it  ? 

Would  you  say  that  Popular  Education  was  not 
therein  concerned,  was  nowise  accessory  to  the  passing 
of  that  legislation,  or  accountable  for  its  negligences  and 
blindness ;  that  these  matters  lie  outside  its  domain  and 
sphere  of  action?  Why,  then,  what  a  naive,  impotent, 
blundering  imposture  does  this  same  Popular  Educa- 
tion proclaim  itself  to  be,  that  teaches  everybody  alge- 
bra, and  teaches  nobody  the  first  duty  of  patriotism  that 
assures  him  his  daily  bread  and  butter ! 

But  I  am  sure  you  will  allow,  nay,  you  will  insist, 
that  Popular  Education  has  had,  and  must  have  increas- 
ing influence  in  guiding  political  thought  and  shaping 
political  action;  that  its  ministers,  administrators,  and 


Popular  Education  87 

teachers,  by  the  laws  they  frame,  the  principles  they 
inculcate,  the  ideals  they  set  before  our  children,  and 
the  notions  they  instil  into  their  receptive  minds,  have 
a  very  real,  if  indirect,  influence  over  the  whole  body 
of  future  legislation. 

May  I,  without  impertinence,  ask  you  whether,  if  you 
had  been  Minister  of  Education  a  generation  ago,  and 
had  foreseen  our  present  dangers  and  adversities,  you 
would  not  have  made  it  your  first  business  to  permeate 
every  school  in  England  with  an  enlightened,  resolute 
patriotism,  and  to  impress  every  boy  with  the  urgent 
necessity  of  holding  himself  ready  to  defend  his  coun- 
try when  the  dreadful  hour  should  strike?'  Am  I 
wrong  in  supposing  that  you  would  have  considered 
this  matter  of  more  importance  than  continuation  class- 
es, that  you  would  have  put  it  into  the  forefront  of  the 
legislation  you  introduced,  and  into  practice  through- 
out the  kingdom? 

It  may  be  urged  that  all  that  is  past  and  done  with, 
and  not  now  worth  our  argument  and  speculation.  The 
millennium  is  dawning,  and  the  unfortunate  oversight 
of  our  politicians  is  amply  atoned  for  by  the  same 
comforting  assurance  that  the  housemaid  gives  when  she 
has  broken  the  priceless  china  vase  that  gold  cannot 
replace — "It  shan't  happen  again." 

I  will  deal  with  that  fallacious  post-mortem  excuse 
by  and  by. 

Meantime,  may  I  bring  to  remembrance  the  fact  that 
Popular  Education,  during  those  blind  and  nugatory 
years,  was  conceived  and  administered  in  a  spirit  of  an- 
tagonism to  any  preparation  of  our  boys  for  what  is  to- 
day the  whole  task  and  business  of  their  lives?  The 
general  aims  and  tendencies  of  Popular  Education,  all 
its  associations  and  affinities  were  opposed  to  giving 


88  Patriotism  and 

them  any  instruction  in  what  was  soon  to  be  their  most 
pressing  employment,  demanding  all  their  energy  and 
intelligence.  There  was  not  merely  neglect  and  indif- 
ference to  any  such  teaching  and  preparation;  there 
was  not  merely  passive  resistance;  there  was  incessant 
and  active  denunciation  of  it  as  something  wholly  su- 
perfluous, foolish,  demoralizing,  brutal,  evil,  and  ruin- 
ous to  the  finances  of  the  country.  It  would  scarcely  be 
an  exaggeration  to  say  that,  in  the  last  generation,  the 
great  majority  of  our  boys  and  young  men  were  indus- 
triously educated  not  to  defend  their  country. 

Where  lay  the  fault  ?  I  will  not  be  so  vain  and  con- 
ceited as  to  imagine  that  all  our  ministers  and  political 
leaders,  deeply  read  in  the  lessons  of  history  as  most  of 
them  were,  trained  and  experienced  in  statecraft,  with 
full  sources  of  information  at  their  command — I  will 
not  flatter  myself  that  they  were  less  discerning,  less 
able  to  form  an  estimate  of  the  future  necessities  and 
obligations  of  the  nation,  than  a  casual  observer  and 
Btander-by  from  politics  like  myself.  How,  then,  was 
it  that  through  all  those  years  they  remained  with 
sealed  eyes  and  ears;  nay,  they  shut  their  eyes  and 
plugged  their  ears;  incurably  afflicted  with  FalstafFa 
disease,  a  kind  of  sleeping  in  the  blood,  a  kind  of  deaf- 
ness, the  disease  of  not  listening,  the  malady  of  not 
marking  ? 

Was  it  not  that  Popular  Education  was  leavening  and 
shaping  political  thought  and  action,  and  directing  the 
main  course  of  legislation,  not  towards  the  wise,  large 
measures  which  events  have  proved  were  urgent  and 
vital  for  the  safety  of  the  nation,  and  for  its  ultimate 
well-being  and  prosperity,  but  towards  measures  of  class 
and  social  re-arrangement  that  promised  some  immedi- 
ate benefit  to  some  section  of  the  new  electorate,  and 


Popular  Education  89 

secured  office  and  party  advantage  to  the  politicians  who 
promoted  them? 

In  the  eighties  after  the  Reform  Bill  there  arose  the 
cry  that  we  must  educate  our  new  masters.  What  really 
happened  was  that  our  new  masters  educated  us.  So 
far  as  Popular  Education  had  any  influence  on  legis- 
lation— and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  there  was  in- 
creasing action  and  reaction  between  Popular  Educa- 
tion and  politics — so  far  it  obscured  the  vision  of  our 
statesmen  in  foreign  affairs,  and  corrupted  their  intel- 
lectual honesty  in  domestic  affairs. 

If  a  man  drugs  me  with  ether,  and  takes  from  me 
my  watch,  he  knows  he  has  robbed  me,  and,  in  his  heart, 
he  probably  calls  himself  a  thief.  But  if,  in  some 
greatly  involved  matter  of  politics,  a  man  drugs  me  with 
the  fumes  of  his  words  and  his  whimsies,  and  takes 
from  me  my  power  of  right  judgment,  he  doesn't  know 
that  he  has  robbed  me,  and  he  probably  calls  himself  a 
Social  Reformer.  Very  likely,  before  drugging  me,  he 
has  carefully  and  systematically  drugged  himself,  and 
then,  if  it  is  to  our  personal  or  class  interest  to  be  de- 
ceived, we  go  on  drugging  each  other,  and  we  form  a 
caucus  to  drug  all  our  neighbours. 

And  by  and  by  a  monstrous  bill  comes  in  for  the 
State  to  pay. 

Was  there  not  great  and  widely-spread  intellectual 
dishonesty  amongst  our  politicians  in  the  years  before 
the  war  ?  And  was  not  much  of  it  due  to  the  pressure 
from  an  electorate  whom  Popular  Education,  by  its  de- 
clared aims  and  policy,  had  encouraged  to  vote,  not  for 
the  ultimate  welfare  and  safety  of  the  State,  but  for 
what  any  scrap  majority  conceived  to  be  their  own  pal- 
pable immediate  personal  interests?  In  the  light  of 
our  present  experience  and  knowledge,  it  seems  an  ill- 


90  Patriotism  and 

timed  jest,  a  cruel  irony  to  remind  the  great  body  of 
voters  that  they  were  blindly  and  obstinately  opposed  to 
any  national  teaching  of  the  first  duty  of  citizenship; 
that  they  made  it  impossible  for  our  politicians  to  pro- 
vide anything  approaching  the  necessary  means  for  the 
defence  of  the  Empire. 

The  politicians  kept  in  office.  I  do  not  say  that  the 
intellectual  dishonesty  that  allowed  them  to  remain 
there  was  conscious  and  deliberate.  We  rarely  analyse 
our  motives  very  closely  when  a  searching  examination 
of  them  would  disturb  our  interests  or  confound  our 
whimsies. 

Of  all  the  mental  ailments  that  afflict  our  race,  intel- 
lectual dishonesty  is  the  most  prevalent,  the  most  read- 
ily infectious,  the  most  obscure  in  its  multiple  origins, 
the  hardest  to  diagnose  correctly,  the  most  subtle  in  its 
workings,  the  most  disastrous  in  its  ravages.  We  are 
all  of  us  easily  susceptible  to  it;  many  of  us,  like  the 
"carriers"  of  typhoid,  go  through  life  sowing  its  germs 
broadcast,  without  even  suspecting  that  it  is  in  our  sys- 
tem, and  that  we  are  spreading  the  plague. 

Was  not  this  indefinable  malady  very  rife  in  the 
House  of  Commons  during  the  years  before  the  war? 
Is  it  not  endemic  in  the  precincts  of  Westminster  ?  And 
was  it  not  largely  accountable  for  the  blindness  that 
closed  the  eyes  of  our  politicians  to  the  shadow  of  the 
coming  doom,  and  to  the  necessity  of  preparing  a  shel- 
ter from  it.  Doubtless  this  intellectual  dishonesty  was 
mainly  unconscious.  Assuredly,  many  of  our  politi- 
cians were  free  from  it  altogether.  Some  of  them,  in- 
deed, if  wholly  mistaken,  were  nobly  and  generously 
mistaken.  And  of  the  others,  let  us  charitably  suppose, 
that  in  effectively  working  their  party  machines  to 
bring  all  these  horrors  upon  us,  to  cut  off  our  best 


Popular  Education  91 

manhood,  to  saddle  the  State  with  an  unbearable  burden 
of  debt  for  generations,  and  to  drag  the  Empire  and 
European  civiliation  into  jeopardy — let  us  charitably 
suppose  that  in  working  their  party  machines  to  these 
ends,  they  were  actuated  by  the  noblest  and  purest  mo- 
tives, and  were  genuinely  convinced  that  they  were 
striving  their  utmost  for  the  welfare  of  the  country. 

However  we  may  allot  the  blame  for  our  present  situ- 
ation, it  is  plain  that  the  sum  of  credit  we  give  to  the 
honesty  and  faithfulness  of  the  politicians  who  were  in 
power,  we  must  debit  from  their  foresight,  sagacity, 
and  statesmanship.  And  the  sum  of  credit  we  give  to 
their  foresight,  sagacity,  and  statesmanship,  we  must 
debit  from  their  honesty  and  faithfulness.  Had  I  been 
a  responsible  minister  in  any  of  the  recent  govern- 
ments, I  think  I  could  never  meet  one  of  those  crippled 
wrecks  in  blue  that  make  England  a  vast  hospital,  with- 
out the  acccusing  thought,  "Perhaps  I  might  have  saved 
that  man." 

I  hear  you  asking,  with  natural  irritation,  "What  has 
all  this  to  do  with  Popular  Education?  Do  I  ascribe 
to  it  all  the  evils  that  have  visited  this  planet  since  the 
lapse  of  Eve?" 

No,  sir,  I  am  now  charging  it  with  one  omission 
only.  But  that  omission  was  so  fatal  in  its  conse- 
quences, that  it  cancels  into  less  than  nothingness  all 
the  benefactions  we  have  received  from  it.  I  mean  the 
omission  to  teach  our  boys  what  every  one  of  them 
would  be  called  upon  to  practise  at  the  hourly  risk  of  his 
life ;  what  it  was  most  urgent  for  their  own  sakes,  and 
most  imperative  for  the  welfare  of  the  State  for  them 
to  learn.  I  will  claim  that  the  Boy  Scouts  movement 
has  had  a  higher  influence  on  the  boys  of  England  than 
the  teaching  they  have  received  in  the  national  schools; 


92  Patriotism  and 

and  that  in  respect  of  building  up  their  characters  in  all 
essentials  of  manhood,  it  has  been  of  far  more  real 
value  to  the  country. 

In  the  matter  of  national  finance,  this  cardinal  omis- 
sion of  Popular  Education  has  been  ruinous  beyond  all 
power  of  computation.  We  are  now  well  within  sight 
of  a  National  Debt  of  some  ten  thousand  millions  of 
pounds.  It  is  the  confessed  aim  of  your  new  Educa- 
tion Bill  to  render  an  economic  service  to  the  State  by 
indiscriminately  forcing  some  items  of  "general"  edu- 
cation upon  everybody  under  the  age  of  eighteen,  how- 
ever unpalatable  it  may  be  to  the  majority  of  them, 
however  foreign  to  their  tastes,  aptitudes,  and  life  vo- 
cation. Perhaps  those  whom  your  Bill,  categorically, 
but  a  little  ungallantly,  describes  as  "young  persons," 
may  be  found  to  have  wills  of  their  own  in  this  matter, 
and  to  develop  unsuspected  powers  of  evasion.  The 
"young  person"  from  sixteen  to  eighteen  is  not  a  very 
tractable  creature,  and  is  fertile  in  devices  of  escape 
from  wholesome  instruction  and  salutary  restraint.  I 
had  only  half  a  dozen  of  them  on  my  hands;  you  will 
have  many  millions.  I  hope,  sir,  your  perplexities  in 
dealing  with  them  may  not  be  multiplied  in  strict  pro- 
portion to  my  own. 

Setting  aside  any  economic  benefit  that  your  Bill 
may,  or  may  not,  confer  upon  the  nation,  I  readily  al- 
low that  "young  persons"  of  sixteen  to  eighteen  would 
often  be  far  better  employed  in  the  study  of  abstract 
problems  of  science,  mathematics,  or  philosophy,  even 
if  they  do  not  understand  them,  than  in  giving  their 
leisure  to  the  very  concrete  personal  matters  that  are 
apt  to  allure  and  absorb  the  thoughts  at  that  impression- 
able age.  Cicero  or  Euclid  is  a  much  safer  and  more 
desirable  companion  for  recalcitrant  adolescence,  than 


Popular  Education  93 

the  average  "young  person"  of  the  opposite  sex  who 
is  employed  over  the  way,  or  picked  up  in  an  evening 
walk.  Alas,  that  to  the  "young  person"  they  should 
he  less  seductive !  This  is  a  subject  upon  which  I  will 
abstain  from  distressing  myself.  With  some  feeling  of 
relief,  I  leave  it  unreservedly  in  your  hands  to  settle 
with  the  "young  persons"  themselves. 

Returning  to  the  economic  question,  when  you  say 
that  "no  country  in  the  long  run  suffers  an  economic 
injury  from  an  improvement  in  the  general  education 
of  its  population,"  I  understand  you  to  mean,  in  this 
instance,  that  by  forcibly  bestowing  information  about 
Cicero,  and  other  packets  of  general  knowledge  upon 
all  "young  persons"  up  to  the  age  of  eighteen,  you  ex- 
pect to  bring  a  substantial  profit  to  our  empty  ex- 
chequer. You  will  admit  that  the  process  is  somewhat 
roundabout  in  its  method,  and  somewhat  obscure  in 
its  working,  and  that  its  benefits  cannot  be  exactly  es- 
timated. Some  of  us  are  a  little  inquisitive  about  the 
precise  amount,  and  a  little  sceptical  as  to  which  side 
of  the  national  ledger  the  balance  may  finally  have  to 
be  placed.  But  whatever  our  doubts,  I  am  sure  there 
is  no  taxpayer  in  the  kingdom  who  does  not  most  fer- 
vently pray  that  your  most  sanguine  expectations  may 
be  surpassed;  and  who,  if  they  are  merely  realized  to 
some  small  extent,  will  not  overwhelm  you  with  grati- 
tude and  praise. 

Indeed,  so  universal  is  the  desire  for  your  success, 
and  so  confident  the  belief  that  it  is  assured,  that  already 
the  papers  have  showered  columns  of  glowing  praise 
upon  your  scheme.  The  chorus  of  their  applause  was 
so  hearty,  and  their  enthusiasm  so  spontaneous  and 
jubilant,  that  I  thought  at  first  I  must  be  reading  the 
notices  of  a  new  revue  at  one  of  our  popular  variety 


94  Patriotism  and 

theatres.  For  I  know  of  no  other  matter  of  general 
civic  interest,  that  in  our  present  circumstances  could 
kindle  such  warm  and  lively  sympathy  and  national 
congratulation. 

Nor,  in  respect  of  any  pecuniary  benefactions  that 
your  bill  may  distribute,  shall  you  find  a  more  eager 
or  grateful  recipient  than  myself.  E"o  stupid,  obstinate 
preference  for  my  own  opinion,  shall  stand  in  the  way 
of  my  changing  it,  the  moment  I  get  some  reasonably 
trustworthy  evidence  that  my  income  tax  has  been  re- 
duced a  penny  in  the  pound,  by  the  compulsory  attend- 
ance of  all  "young  persons"  at  your  continuation  classes. 
In  fact,  when  that  moment  comes,  I  shall  be  found  im- 
ploring you,  with  all  the  zeal  of  a  new  convert,  to  raise 
the  age  to  forty  at  the  least.  I  hope  this  may  show  you 
how  willing,  nay  anxious,  I  am  to  be  convinced  of  the 
economic  wisdom  of  this  clause  in  your  bill. 

I  am  aware,  sir,  that  you  cannot  disentangle  from  our 
general  revenue,  the  amount  that  will  flow  into  the  ex- 
chequer from  your  detention  of  all  "young  persons" 
in  class  rooms  until  they  are  eighteen.  I  will  not  ask 
you  to  give  us  even  an  approximate  estimate  of  this 
golden  largesse  to  the  people.  But  you  would  be  able 
to  say  roughly  whether  it  will  be  a  mere  dribble  of  a 
few  millions,  or  a  soaking  rain  of  affluence  upon  a  bare 
and  thirsty  land.  Probably  you  would  assess  it  in  your 
own  mind,  very  loosely  and  indefinitely,  at  something 
between  these  two  extremes.  Let  us  assess  it  in  our 
most  sanguine,  most  extravagant  mood.  As  our  valua- 
tion cannot  be  falsified,  let  us  deal  generously  with  an 
impoverished  nation.  Let  us  nurse  the  wildest  hopes; 
let  us  fondle  the  rosiest  credulities.  What  good  round 
sum  shall  we  say  will  accrue  to  the  State  from  forcibly 
instructing  all  "young  persons"  up  to  eighteen,  in  mat- 


Popular  Education  95 

ters  that  to  the  great  majority  of  them  can  have  no 
concern  with  their  daily  work  and  activities?  Let  us 
put  it  at  some  figure  higher  than  the  highest  possi- 
bility. 

Will  it  then  be  one  fifth,  one  tenth,  one  hundredth  of 
the  sum  that  the  nation  has  squandered,  or  will  have 
to  squander,  because  it  did  not,  in  years  gone  by,  in- 
struct all  male  "young  persons"  in  the  first  duty  of 
citizenship,  and  train  them  to  be  ready  to  defend  their 
country  ? 

Forgive  me,  sir,  if  I  have  roused  your  indignation 
by  calling  upon  you  to  make  such  a  calculation.  You 
will  say  that  there  is  no  means  of  establishing  an  equa- 
tion of  circumstances,  contingencies,  and  results.  And, 
further,  granted  that  a  rigid  comparison  could  be  made, 
and  an  exact  balance  struck,  it  could  serve  no  useful 
purpose,  and  would  be  a  mere  irritating  reminder  of 
our  past  folly  and  blindness.  Why,  then,  do  I,  like  a 
nagging  shrew,  continue  to  harp  upon  yesterday's 
faults  and  mistakes  in  the  household?  They  are  past 
and  done  with,  and  the  whole  family  is  hard  at  work, 
trying  to  repair  them.  Those  who  committed  them  andf 
caused  the  general  upset  and  damage,  are  now,  many 
of  them,  toiling  night  and  day  to  ward  off  further  de- 
struction, and  to  make  our  home  tidy  and  fit  to  live  in 
once  more. 

I  gladly  acknowledge  that.  I  am  sensible  of  their 
sleepless  work  and  care,  and  am  deeply  grateful  to  them ; 
boundlessly  grateful  and  beggared  of  thanks  to  the  tire- 
less, indomitable  steward  and  guardian  of  our  despoiled 
estate,  who  with  every  energy  of  brain  and  fervent  soul 
and  will  addressed  to  his  stupendous  task,  bearing  a 
burden  more  than  mortal  shoulders  are  able  to  bear,  is 
labouring  to  bring  us  out  of  this  chaos  and  wreckage. 


CHAPTER  IV 

(July—  August  1918) 

A  LEAGUE  OF 


Legislating  for  the  millennium  —  The  prophet  Micah  beats 
swords  into  ploughshares  —  The  prophet  Joel  counters  him  and 
beats  ploughshares  into  swords  —  War  and  Design  in  Nature  — 
An  automatic  peace-machine  —  The  philanthropist  in  Laputa  and 
his  safety  dustbin  —  Possible  material  profit  from  war  —  Greater 
certainty  of  spiritual  profit  —  Difficulties  of  constitution  of  League 

—  The  master   fact  for  our   statesmen   to  remember  —  Germany's 
future  attitude  towards  Britain  —  Do  we  not  know  this  nation?  —  - 
The  League  of  Nations  a  fruitful  field  for  German  intrigue  —  The 
servant  girl  and  the  fair  young  man  —  League  of  Nations  a  fu- 
tility or  a  danger  —  Improbability  of  all  the  nations  being  wise 
for  all  of  the  time  —  Dark  anarchic  forces  gathering  on  the  hori- 
zon —  Governing  the  world  by  a  Committee  —  The  war  after  the 
war  —  Victories  of  Peace  compared  with  Victories  of  war  —  Eng- 
lish and  American  commercial  practices  —  A  League  of  Nations, 
sooner  or  later,  causes  war  —  Approaching  ground  swell  after  this 
tempest  —  Balancing  alternations  of  peace  and  war  through   all 
history  —  A    soldier   the    final    custodian    of    peace  —  By    recogniz- 
ing this  we  avoid  or  shorten  war  —  Immediate  and  remote  dan- 
gers of  a  League  of  Nations   considered  —  Hecate  and   false   se- 
curity —  War  and  the  dark  backward  and  abysm  of  Time  —  War 
and  the  dark  forward  and  abysm  of  time  —  Canute  and  the  fram- 
ers  of  a  League  of  Nations  —  American  delay  in  entering  the  war 

—  American   mothers  and   the  war  trumpets   of   Europe  —  Amer- 
ica's  unique   and   fortunate  position  —  Speculation   on   future   of 
American  civilization  —  Four  possible  future  states  of  world  civi- 
lization —  The  earth   littered  with   combustile  matter—  The  two 
sign-posts. 

WHY,  then,  dwell  upon  the  past?    And  especially 
upon   this  unfortunate  oversight  of  our  poli- 
ticians in  not  preparing  for  the  war  ?     Surely  the  con- 

96 


Popular  Education  97 

templation  and  discussion  of  that  national  error  of 
judgment  can  offer  us  no  lesson  or  warning  for  the  fu- 
ture; for,  as  soon  as  peace  is  signed,  the  millennium 
will  dawn  by  the  unanimous  decree  of  a  League  of  Na- 
tions. Let  us  make  haste  to  legislate  for  the  millen- 
nium. Let  us,  victims  of  miseries  and  mistakes  through 
all  these  troublous  chapters  of  our  history,  take  a  peep 
at  the  end  of  the  book  and  find  it  written  on  the  glow- 
ing last  page  that  we  shall  live  happily  ever  after- 
wards. How  like  we  are  to  the  readers  of  a  tale,  or 
the  sitters  at  a  play!  We  insist  that  the  author  shall 
give  us  a  happy  ending  or  we  will  not  buy  his  book.  But 
the  Author  of  the  book  of  our  fate  cares  nothing  for 
popular  approbation  and  applause.  He  writes  the 
plainest,  sternest  truths  and  makes  no  concession  to 
the  public  taste  for  honied  sentiment  and  luxurious 
dreams.  For  every  word  He  writes  is  assured  of  final 
universal  circulation.  Sooner  or  later  He  forces  us 
to  buy  every  volume  He  issues;  and  always  at  a  price 
that  leaps  upward,  the  longer  we  delay. 

Some  natural  hopes  we  must  needs  indulge  for  very 
pity  of  our  present  state;  some  fairy  pageantry  of 
beatitude  we  must  needs  paint  upon  the  unsubstantial 
cloud  fleece  of  the  future,  or  we  should  faint  and  die 
on  this  dark,  thorny,  toilsome  road.  Who  is  there  that, 
casting  one  shuddering  look  on  this  perverted  world  to- 
day, does  not  make  one  with  all  its  despairing,  tortured, 
starving  peoples,  and  throwing  himself  into  the  vast, 
kneeling  assembly,  cry  out  with  them,  "An  oath !  An 
oath!  We  have  an  oath  in  heaven!  Witness,  ye  ever 
burning  lights  above !  Never,  to  the  end  of  time,  shall 
this  mad,  blundering,  accursed  murderer,  War,  again 
work  havoc  and  ruin  upon  our  earth !" 

That  cry  has  gone  up  to  heaven  before.    That  vow 


98  Patriotism  and 

has  often  been  registered  by  acclaiming  mankin. 
their  dire  agony  of  body  and  soul.     Men  have 
been  convinced  of  the  advantages  of  peace,  an   • 
miseries  and  cruelties  of  war.     The  prophet  1 
with  all  the  zeal  of  our  modern  Pacifists,  and  in  cb: 
diction,    announced    a   time   when    swords   shoul 
beaten  into  ploughshares,  and  spears  into  pruning-1^ 
Unfortunately  the  prophet  Micah  was  countered  V 
prophet   Joel,    who  started    a   movement   for 
ploughshares  into  swords,  and  pruning-hooks  into  si 
Our  own  Pacifists,  if  history,  or  facts,  or  aught  the  ] 
tains  to  reason  could  teach  them,  might  notic< 
these  opposing  movements  have  continued  ever  ince, 
with  balancing  alternations  and  constant  interi 
recurrence.     Did  not  Voltaire,  with  his  superb  '< 
expose  to  his  countrymen  the  miseries  and  absuii 
and  senseless  horrors  of  war  ?    Yet  in  the  next  puera- 
tion  they  were  following  Napoleon,  and  laying 
all  Europe,  having  in  the  meantime  proclaime  uni- 
versal brotherhood,  and  chopped  off  each  other's  eads. 
Again  our  Pacifists  may  note  that  chopping  ofiaeads 
and  cutting  throats  is  the  inevitable  sequel  to  prcl 
ing  universal  brotherhood.     And  so  on  till  1851 
it  was  fondly  imagined  that  wars  would  be  case 
cease  by  building  in  Hyde  Park,  what  Ruskin  c 
large  cucumber  frame  between  two  chimneys,  ad 
playing  therein  a  quantity  of  Manchester 
wares. 

If  there  is  any  Design  in  this  universal  wel  >f  hu- 
man things,  War  has  hitherto  been  a  main  and  i1 
able  part  of  that  Design.     Its  crimson  thre 
through  all  the  tapestry  of  history,  though 
are  hidden  from  us  under  the  smiling  panoima  of 
peace  that  is  displayed.     The  great  loom  of 


Popular  Education  99 

gone  on  weaving  its  variegated,  -complicated  pattern 
of  human  affairs  for  the  countless  thousands  of  years 
since  man  began  to  climb  upwards  from  the  ape,  but 
the  dreadful  red  figure  has  never  long  been  absent  from 
the  foreground  of  the  scene.  Punctually  at  the  ap- 
pointed hour — it  may  be  at  the  end  of  ten,  or  twenty, 
or  forty  years — punctually  the  great  loom  has  begun 
again  to  weave  the  figure  of  the  terrible  red  monster, 
and  he  has  emerged;  in  his  right  hand  a  sword,  and 
his  left  hand  a  cup  of  unendurable  agonies  and  cruel- 
ties and  sorrows. 

We,  drinking  from  that  cup,  cry  out  against  its  bit- 
terness. We  try  to  push  it  from  us.  The  terrible 
red  monster  grips  us,  forces  it  through  our  teeth,  as 
deep  as  to  our  throats,  makes  us  swallow  its  very  dregs. 
We  register  our  vehement  vow  that  it  shall  never  again 
be  offered  to  our  lips,  or  to  the  lips  of  our  children. 
We  will  vote  against  it  at  the  next  election.  Does  not 
an  undeciphered  tablet  brought  from  the  ruins  of  As- 
syria, record  that  at  the  general  election  which  took 
place  when  Noah  was  building  his  ark,  the  electorate  of 
that  day  voted  unanimously  against  the  deluge?  We 
will  certainly  vote  against  this  greater,  fouler  evil  at 
the  next  election,  and  at  every  election  for  the  next  fifty 
years. 

Unhasting,  unresting,  the  great  loom  of  Time  is  al- 
ready beginning  to  weave  the  future  history  of  the 
coming  generations  of  men.  The  crimson  threads  that 
now  stretch  all  across  the  frame,  dyed  deep  in  the  blood 
of  the  nations,  will  disappear,  and  embed  themselves 
in  a  warp  and  woof  of  rejoicing  landscapes,  peopled 
with  olive  gatherers  and  reapers  of  corn.  Having 
served  His  purpose  in  His  unfathomable  Design,  may 
not  those  crimson  threads,  when  they  return  to  the 


100  Patriotism  and 

hands  of  the  Weaver,  be  then  for  ever  dipped  in  soft 
dove  tints  and  restful  hues  of  peace,  never  again  to 
he  woven  into  the  monstrous  lineaments  of  war  ? 

Who  does  not  hope  for  it  ?    Who  would  not  further  it  ? 

It  was  a  pleasing  medieval  superstition  that  man- 
drakes, torn  shrieking  from  the  treacherous  soil  that 
had  engendered  them,  after  they  had  been  propitiated 
by  soothing  rites,  ceased  to  be  the  couriers  of  evil,  and' 
became  the  wise,  familiar  spirits  and  loving  oracles  of 
the  household  then  enshrined  them.  So  may  we  pro- 
pitiate the  mandrakes  that  we  have  torn  from  this  mur- 
der pit  of  war,  conjuring  away  their  attributes  of  hell, 
and  transforming  them  into  the  guardians  and  coun- 
sellors of  the  nations  through  long  generations  of  uni- 
versal peace! 

Who  does  not  hope  for  it  ?    Who  would  not  further  it  ? 

He  would  be  a  bold  and  foolish  man  who  should  de- 
clare that  the  recurrent  dream  of  the  ages  will  not 
at  last  come  true  after  this  war;  that  the  weapons  of 
slaughter,  when  they  drop  from  our  hands,  will  not 
henceforth  be  packed  away  in  the  museum  of  history, 
nevermore  to  be  used  for  the  torture  and  destruction  of 
mankind,  but  only  to  be  shown  as  curiosities  and  an- 
tique relics  in  the  holiday  times  to  come.  Surely,  if 
ever  men  will  learn  to  avoid  war,  now  is  the  accep- 
table moment ;  surely  if  ever  they  can  devise  some  cun- 
ning interlocking  machine  that  will  automatically  deal 
out  perpetual  peace  to  the  nations,  now  is  the  time  to 
fashion  it.  We  are  being  carried  towards  a  new  civi- 
lization. Who  shall  say  what  may,  or  may  not,  be 
possible  amidst  new  forces  that  we  cannot  estimate, 
and  in  new  conditions  that  we  cannot  realize  ?  It  may 
be  found  possible  to  construct  an  automatic  peace  ma- 
chine, and  it  may  be  found  possible  to  get  it  to  work, 


I 


Popular  Education  .  '•  -. : . .  \      101 

at  any -rate  for  a  time.  The  necessity  for  it  is  so  ob- 
vious and  so  pressing,  that  we  can  but  watch  with  all 
sympathy  and  hope,  the  efforts  of  those  who  are  so 
industriously  beginning  to  put  its  parts  together;  we 
can  but  wish  them  success  with  all  our  hearts. 

But  how  long  is  it  likely  to  work?  That  all  the 
statesmen  of  all  the  nations  will  have  to  stand  by,  and 
check  and  regulate  its  every  movement,  nobody  doubts. 
That  it  will  need  incessant  mending  and  tinkering,  no- 
body doubts.  That  all  the  statesmen  of  all  the  na- 
tions will  have  to  repair  it  in  harmonious  co-operation, 
and  adjust  its  intricate  action  to  meet  the  varying  needs 
and  interests  and  susceptibilities  of  all  the  countries 
under  the  sun,  nobody  doubts.  Is  it  not  almost  certain 
that,  within  the  period  of  a  generation  or  even  less, 
the  machine  will  get  out  of  order  and  become  unman- 
ageable, and  this  at  some  moment  when  all  the  states- 
men are  busy  oiling  and  mending  it,  with  their  fingers 
in  its  complicated  cogs?  And  will  not  the  statesmen 
be  drawn  into  its  furious  revolutions,  while  the  un- 
ruly irresponsible  machine  clatters  itself  to  destruction, 
and  mangles  and  wrecks  everything  around  it? 

Something  like  this  has  happened  to  the  peace  ma- 
chine which  the  Russian  democracy  constructed  upon 
the  k  fall  of  the  Czar.  Why  should  we  think  that  a 
larger,  more  complicated  machine,  constructed  upon 
what  are  virtually  and  fundamentally  the  same  prin- 
ciples of  action,  will  not,  sooner  or  later,  grind  out 
the  same  results  to  its  inventors  and  its  victims? 

The  last  time  I  was  in  Laputa,  I  met  there  a  phil- 
anthropist, who  had  a  most  engaging  scheme  for  rid- 
ding the  world  of  all  the  inconveniences,  nuisances, 
and  diseases  attendant  upon  the  universal  prevalence  of 
dust.  His  quite  unassailable  argument  was,  that  if 


102  Patriotism  and 

we  could  once  and  finally  collect  all  the  dust  in  the 
world,  and  put  it  into  a  large  safe  and  lock  it  up,  we 
ahould  henceforth  have  a  quite  tidy,  wholesome,  pleas- 
ant earth  to  live  upon;  that  we  should  save  half  our 
expenses  on  housemaids,  and  all  our  expenses  on  dust- 
men and  water-carts;  that  we  should  he  free  from  un- 
pleasant smells,  and  rid  ourselves  of  flies;  and  that 
all  the  filth  and  dirt  diseases  would  be  eradicated.  As 
he  enlarged  upon  the  great  and  manifest  blessings  that 
his  scheme  would  confer  upon  humanity,  I  caught  his 
enthusiasm,  and  heartily  wished  him  all  possible  suc- 
cess. He  thanked  me,  and  said  that  he  had  already 
built  one  safe,  and  had  stored  in  it  a  large  heap  of 
dust,  when  he  found  out  that  he  had  miscalculated 
the  total  quantity  of  dust  that  there  was  in  the  world ; 
moreover,  some  evil-disposed  persons  had  bored  a  hole 
in  his  safe,  and  caused  a  leakage.  However,  he  would 
guard  against  all  such  error  and  malice  in  the  future. 
When  I  left  Lagado,  he  was  busy  planning  an  uncol- 
lapsible,  impregnable  safe,  of  dimensions  and  design 
suitable  to  the  magnificence  of  his  idea, 

Now  if  we  could  but  sweep  up  all  the  poisonous  dust 
and  germ-laden  filth  of  greed,  hate,  intrigue,  pride, 
rivalry,  selfishness,  discontent,  envy,  rancour,  stupidity, 
jealousy,  and  ambition  that  lie  littering  amongst  the 
nations,  and  that  in  times  past  have  bred  and  festered 
into  war — if  we  could  collect  it  all  into  one  heap  and 
put  it  into  a  large  safe,  and  call  it  "A  League  of  Na- 
tions"— Ah,  if  we  could ! 

Let  us  for  the  time  shirk  all  responsibility  for  the 
caprices  of  future  events.  Let  us  cast  about,  and  try 
to  get  some  anchorage,  not  amongst  the  clouds,  but  on 
the  hard  bed  rock  of  reality.  Let  us  get  a  tight  grip 
of  unchallengeable  facts,  and  make  them  surety  for 


I 


Popular  Education  103 

our  national  aims  and  efforts.  In  all  the  bewilder- 
ment and  confusion  of  our  present  hopes  and  en- 
deavours, what  are  the  main  things  we  may  be  sure 
about  and  build  upon  ? 

We  may  be  sure  that  the  fundamental  instincts  and 
passions  of  humanity  will  not  change,  until  man  be- 
comes a  creature  of  a  genus  so  unlike  ourselves,  that 
his  affairs  and  his  destiny  can  be  no  concern  of  ours. 
But  that  day  is  very  far  distant.  We  have  certainly 
risen  from  a  race  of  crude  lemur-like  animals.  We 
are  certainly  groping  and  agonizing  upwards  from  the 
brute.  But  how  slowly  and  how  obliquely !  We  may  be 
sure  that  for  centuries  to  come,  the  masses  of  mankind 
will  be  swayed  and  moved  and  whirled  about  by  the 
same  impulses,  instincts,  and  passions  that  have  moved 
them  for  centuries  in  the  past.  And  as  the  interests  of 
individual  nations  are  always  partly  in  conflict  and 
partly  in  collusion,  it  is  improbable  to  the  last  degree 
that  any  nation  will,  for  any  great  length  of  time, 
be  able  to  pursue  any  clear  policy  that  it  has  marked 
out  for  itself.  The  nations  and  masses  of  men  will, 
as  in  the  past,  be  driven  along  roads  they  have  not 
chosen,  to  goals  they  have  not  fixed  or  foreseen.  Man 
will  never  divine  the  strategy  of  Nature.  Only  rarely 
and  dimly  can  he  follow  her  tactics,  and  advance  his 
positions  a  few  yards  forward.  Even  then,  though  he 
is  not  aware  of  it,  he  is  still  fulfilling  her  strategy. 

(I  am  sure,  sir,  that  you  are  asking  with  increasing 
irritation,  what  has  all  this  to  do  with  Popular  Educa- 
tion and  your  Education  Bill.  I  own  that  I  seem  to  be 
wandering  away  from  the  high  road  of  my  argument 
in  obscure  and  devious  by-lanes.  Bear  with  me,  sir, 
a  little  longer.  I  am  making  for  a  fixed  point.  I  will 
meet  you  at  the  top  of  the  hill,  yonder,  where  the  op- 


104  Patriotism  and 

posing  signposts  stand,  and  where  the  two  ways  part.) 
It  will  be  urged  that  in  »this  matter  of  war,  the  in- 
terests of  the  nations  do  not  conflict;  that  it  is  very 
plainly  to  the  advantage  of  them  #11  and  severally,  to 
abolish  it  now  and  for  ever  from  the  planet. 

Can  we  be  sure  even  of  that,  self-evident  though  it 
appears  to  be  on  the  surface  ?  Undoubtedly  it  is  to  the 
immediate  economic  interest  of  the  nations  generally, 
to  abstain  from  killing  each  other's  citizens  and  wreck- 
ing each  other's  property.  But  can  we  say  that  in- 
dividual nations  have  not  often  profited  very  largely 
in  a  material  sense,  and  also  in  a  spiritual  sense,  from 
a  successful  war?  If,  during  the  last  four  years,  the 
scales  which  have  so  often  hung  tremulously  balanced 
midway  between  heaven  and  hell,  which  at  this  moment 
hang  in  their  last  perilous  vacillating  poise,  if  those 
scales  by  the  addition  of  some  small  makeweight  thrown 
in  by  malignant  circumstance,  had  once  dipped  in  fa- 
tal decision  against  us,  can  we  say  that  Germany  would 
not  have  gained  an  enormous  booty  of  wealth,  terri- 
tory, power,  influence,  and  future  prosperity?  That 
the  Germans  would  not  henceforth  have  been  the  slave- 
owners of  us  dispossessed  Englishmen,  living  easily  in 
our  heritage,  and  fattening  upon  the  sweated  toil  of 
our  outcast  children?  Nine  thousand  million  pounds 
is  the  sum  which  a  German  statesman  in  to-day's  paper 
is  calling  upon  his  Government  to  claim  from  Eng- 
land, besides  large  slices  of  the  continents,  and  vam- 
pire economic  extortions.  A  cruel  price  to  pay  for 
the  neglect  of  our  Popular  Educators  in  the  last  genera- 
tion to  teach  our  boys  the  first  duty  of  citizenship!  A 
price  impossible  for  the  Germans  now  to  exact. 

Is  it  quite  impossible  ?  How  often  in  the  last  four 
years,  have  there  been  moments  when  a  feather's  weight 


I 


Popular  Education  105 

thrown  in  the  scale  against  us,  would  have  sent  our 
scale  to  kick  the  beam,  and  MENE,  MENE,  TEKEL, 
TJpHAKsm  would  have  been  written  on  the  gravestone 
of  England!  And  if  some  crooked  jolt  of  mischance 
should  even  now  turn  the  scales  against  us,  will  not 
some  such  ruinous  bill  be  sent  in  for  us  to  pay  ?  What- 
ever economic  benefit  your  system  of  general  education 
may  endow  the  nation  withal,  it  will  be  small  dust  in 
the  balance  compared  with  that  staggering,  incalculable 
deficit.  And  will  you  not  then,  sir,  be  inclined  to  re- 
vise your  dictum,  and  make  it  read  thus :  "No  country 
in  the  long  run  suffers  an  economic  injury  by  training 
its  boys  to  be  ready  to  defend  it,  and  by  making  this 
training  a  part  of  their  general  education"  ? 

But  alas,  sir,  if  some  blind  blow  out  of  the  dark  should 
yet  descend  upon  us,  and  disable  us  in  this  ever  fluc- 
tuating conflict,  it  will  not  be  you,  but  the  Germans 
who  in  five  years'  time  will  be  superintending  English 
education,  and  drawing  up  the  schedule  of  our  lessons. 
Bitter  and  ruthless  will  be  their  instruction ;  severe  and 
prolonged  beyond  all  our  power  of  endurance  will  be 
their  continuation  classes.  Happily  there  is  every 
reason  to  hope  that  we  shall  remain  under  your  milder, 
less  expensive  system  of  Popular  Education. 

But  if  we  cannot  deny  that  individual  nations  have 
often  profited  materially  by  war,  still  less  can  we  deny 
that  individual  nations  have  often  profited  spiritually 
by  war.  Does  not  a  righteous  war  almost  certainly 
bring  spiritual  enlargement  and  enlightenment  and  en- 
franchisement to  the  nation  that  submits  to  its  iron 
discipline,  and  offers  its  purifying  sacrifices  ?  To  deny 
this  is  to  black  out  from  history  many  of  its  most  in- 
spiring pages ;  it  is  to  sanctify  oppression  and  tyranny, 
and  to  defame  the  heroic  peoples  who  have  hazarded 


106  Patriotism  and 

all  and  suffered  all  for  the  deliverance  of  their  land, 
and  the  freedom  of  their  souls.  To  deny  that  a  righ- 
teous war  brings  spiritual  gain,  is  to  pour  contempt  upon 
all  the  exaltations  and  sacrifices  whereby  we  have  proved 
ourselves  and  saved  ourselves  during  the  last  four 
years;  upon  all  that  bands  us  together  in  our  uncon- 
querable resolve;  upon  all  that  encourages  us  in  these 
fateful  hours  to  affirm  with  our  blood  the  immutable 
conviction  of  our  race,  that  when  evil  is  triumphant 
men  must  needs  die  to  overcome  it. 

But  it  is  claimed  that  this  is  the  last  time  in  the 
history  of  the  world  when  evil  will  be  triumphant,  and 
when  men  will  be  called  upon  to  give  their  lives  in  re- 
sistance to  it.  The  Germans  are  a  race  apart,  a  people 
apart.  When  once  they  are  vanquished,  it  is  claimed 
that  no  nation  will  ever  arise  in  the  future  to  tyrannize 
and  devastate  the  earth.  Any  little  differences  of  opin- 
ion, of  rivalries,  or  coverings,  or  selfish  aims  that  may 
spring  up  amongst  the  peoples  in  the  future,  will  be 
easily  charmed  away  by  a  vote  of  the  League  of  Na- 
tions. 

Is  each  nation  to  have  equal  voting  power?  It  is 
manifestly  unfair,  and  will  probably  be  found  to  be 
unworkable.  Is  each  nation  to  have  voting  power  in 
proportion  to  its  population?  Again,  it  is  manifestly 
unfair,  and  will  make  the  small  nations  of  little  or  no 
account.  Is  each  nation  to  have  voting  power  accord- 
ing to  the  armament  it  places  at  the  disposal  of  the 
League?  Who  is  to  allot  the  size  and  functions  of 
each  individual  armament?  To  include  or  to  exclude 
Germany  seems  to  be  equally  undesirable,  and  equally 
obstructive  to  the  safe  and  honest  working  of  the  League. 
To  the  nations  whom  she  has  pillaged  and  devastated 
and  murdered,  Germany  will  for  a  generation  be  as  in- 


Popular  Education  107 

tolerable  as  a  friend  at  the  council  table,  as  she  has 
been  unscrupulous  as  an  enemy  in  the  field. 

The  constitution  of  the  League  is  beset  with  diffi- 
culties and  provocations  to  dissension.  Still  the  long- 
ing for  peace  is  so  urgent  and  so  universal,  that  it  will 
doubtless  be  found  possible  to  make  the  necessary  com- 
promises, and  to  establish  it  in  some  form  that  will 
give  it  a  chance  of  temporary  success.  Indeed  the 
longing  for  peace  is  so  strong  and  insistent  that  it  will 
probably  ensure  its  own  fulfilment  for  many  years  to 
come. 

Setting  aside  the  possibility  of  a  universal  class  war, 
which  would  obliterate  national  boundaries,  destroy 
national  understandings,  and  plunge  the  world  into 
endless  anarchy  and  strife — setting  this  aside,  is  any 
one  childish  enough  to  think  that,  for  the  next  thirty 
years,  whether  Germany  is  inside  or  outside  the  League 
of  Nations,  we  can  escape  from  being  on  the  alert 
against  her  intrigues,  so  far  as  we  leave  her  any 
power  to  intrigue  ?  The  one  master  fact  for  our  states- 
men to  remember  after  victory,  is  that  we  have  robbed 
Germany  of  the  domination  of  the  world,  thwarted  all 
her  national  hopes  and  ambitions,  crushed  her  arma- 
ments and  her  commerce,  and  slaughtered  the  prime 
of  her  manhood.  In  doing  this,  we  have  inflamed  the 
mad  murderous  instincts  of  her  people  to  their  highest 
pitch,  and  roused  in  her  such  deep-seated  bitter  ani- 
mosity and  hungry  desperate  hate,  as  no  goodwill  and 
conciliation  on  our  part  will  for  a  long  generation  serve 
to  abate. 

We  had  to  do  this.  It  was  unavoidable.  Germany 
would  have  it  so.  We  may  not  wish  to  remember  it. 
Germany  will.  At  our  peril  shall  we  forget  it. 

Let  us  try  to  imagine  what  our  feelings  towards 


108  Patriotism  and 

Germany  would  be  for  the  next  thirty  or  forty  years, 
if  she  had  defeated  us,  and  left  us  beggared,  shamed, 
and  crushed  in  the  ruined  corners  of  our  shattered 
Empire.  So  far  as  any  spark  of  national  hope,  or 
spunk  of  national  virtue  was  left  in  us,  could  we  ever 
forget  it  or  forgive  it?  And  being  disarmed  of  all 
weapons  of  force,  should  we  not  cast  about  for  every 
device  to  entangle  her  in  the  council  of  nations,  on  the 
chance  of  bringing  to  a  head  some  combination  against 
her? 

Why  should  we  think  that  Germany  will  do  other- 
wise? Granted  that  we  gain  a  complete  and  decisive 
victory,  and  that  we  build  up  impregnable  barriers  on 
every  side  against  future  German  aggression,  we  shall 
still  be  confronted  with  a  virile,  industrious,  prolific, 
scheming  race  of  some  seventy  millions,  united  in  a 
common  national  purpose  as  no  people  have  ever  been, 
and  nursing  against  its  conquerors  a  sullen,  unquench- 
able hate  and  study  of  revenge.  Does  any  one  claim 
that  this  will  not  be  the  dominant  prepossession  of  the 
German  mind,  the  driving  force  of  German  thought  and 
action,  after  defeat  ?  He  claims  that  the  fundamental 
instincts  and  passions  of  mankind  will  suddenly  change 
upon  the  signing  of  peace.  He  claims  that  Germans 
are  endowed  beyond  all  other  nations  with  superhuman 
attributes  of  forgiveness,  benevolence,  and  loving  kind- 
ness to  enemies. 

The  more  complete  our  victory,  the  more  stringently 
we  enforce  the  military  and  economic  conditions  that 
are  necessary  for  our  future  peace  and  security,  the 
more  surely  we  may  reckon  that  a  deep,  fierce  fire  of 
anger,  hate,  and  revenge  will  be  hotly  kept  alive  in 
every  German  breast. 


I 


Popular  Education  109 

We  may  be  sure  of  that.  We  may  wish  it  other- 
wise. We  may,  and  I  hope  we  speedily  shall,  do  all  that 
can  be  safely  done  to  extinguish  the  murderous  pas- 
sions and  animosities  that  the  war  has  kindled.  The 
arch  criminals,  the  anointed  stage  braggart  with  his 
gang  of  robber  conspirators  and  accessory  ruffians  who 
have  done  plain  murders  and  felonies,  must  be  ar- 
raigned, brought  to  trial,  and  punished  before  the  eyes 
of  all  men,  and  this  on  a  gibbet  so  high  and  conspicuous 
that  all  the  coming  generations  may  see  it  and  say, 
"This  was  done  to  them  who  kicked  over  the  world's 
great  altar  of  Justice,  and  trampled  it  under  their  feet." 
When  this  is  done,  let  all  else  be  done,  and  all  other 

itences  passed,  by  Mercy  herself. 

But  when  we  have  shown  the  utmost  clemency  and 
generosity  compatible  with  the  security  of  the  vast  fu- 
ture interests  committed  to  our  care,  we  shall  still  have 
a  running  future  account  with  a  sullen,  humiliated, 
bankrupt  nation  whom  we  have  balked  of  her  great 
prize  of  world  dominion,  just  as  it  was  within  her  grasp. 
It  is  not  credible  but  that  after  defeat,  Germany's 
present  furious  hatred  for  us  will  turn  to  a  subterra- 
nean, resentful  malevolence,  all  the  more  deadly  because 
it  will  be  largely  curbed  and  stifled. 

To  believe  otherwise,  is  to  believe  that  though  Ger- 
many, by  her  every  act  and  gesture  in  the  last  genera- 
tion, has  shown  that  she  is  consistently  and  deliberately 
cruel,  treacherous,  utterly,  regardless  of  truth  and  faith, 
reckless  of  all  save  her  own  interests,  and  remorseless 
in  pursuit  of  them — that  though  she  has  shown  us 
all  this  so  plainly,  yet,  as  soon  as  peace  is  signed,  she 
will  suddenly  become  something  quite  different.  What 
is  this  but  to  fall  into  the  same  error,  to  lull  ourselves 


110  Patriotism  and 

into  the  same  balmy  doze  of  credulous  benevolence  and 
fatuous  idealism,  wherein  we  were  overtaken  by  the 
war  ?  What  physiological  possibility  is  there  of  a  wolf 
being  suddenly  transformed  into  a  lamb  ?  What  moral 
possibility  is  there  of  as  radical  a  change  in  Germany's 
nature?  Yet  we  are  daily  asked  to  shape  our  future 
policy,  to  steer  our  national  course,  in  the  certainty  that 
this  metempsychosis  will  take  place  as  soon  as  the  war 
is  ended.  Nay,  we  are  implored  to  end  the  war  at 
once,  in  order  that  the  metempsychosis  may  take  place 
without  delay. 

Do  we  not  know  this  nation  ?  Or,  if  there  is  anything 
yet  to  learn,  will  it  not  be  that  she  has  yet  deeper  depths 
of  perfidy,  cruelty,  and  blood-guiltiness  than  any  we 
have  yet  explored?  Who  can  doubt,  that  supposing 
we  gain  the  complete  and  decisive  victory  whereto  all 
our  resolves  and  energies  are  bent — who  can  doubt  that, 
for  long  years  to  come,  Germany's  master  feeling  will 
be  an  intense,  stealthy,  ever-watchful  hatred  of  the  na- 
tions that  have  defeated  her;  and  chiefly  of  England, 
who  most  of  all  barred  the  path  of  her  ambition ;  whose 
future  and  permanent  interests  lie  nearest  to  hers,  are 
most  opposed  to  hers,  and  are  most  easily  accessible  to 
the  creeping  wiles  of  her  penetration  ? 

We  may  deplore  the  continuance  of  German  hatred- 
after  the  war.  It  will  be  most  unwelcome,  most  un- 
desirable; and  terribly  disconcerting  to  the  industrious 
wire-pullers  of  the  millennium.  We  may  do  everything 
in  our  power  to  allay  and  avoid  it.  But  it  will  remain. 
Amidst  our  surrounding  uncertainties,  it  is  one  of  the 
things  that  is  fixed  and  sure.  Amidst  the  quakings  of 
this  wild  upheaval,  it  is  one  of  the  things  upon  which 
we  may  build.  It  should  be  a  guide  and  key  to  our 
present  and  future  policy.  At  our  peril  shall  we  deny 


Popular  Education  111 

it,  or  shut  our  eyes  to  its  probable  intensity  and  dura- 
tion. 

I  snail  be  accused  of  seeking  to  perpetuate  enmity 
between  England  and  Germany.  Are  not  the  Germans 
as  a  nation  very  much  akin  to  ourselves?  Are  there 
not  amongst  them  good  husbands,  loving  fathers,  de« 
voted  mothers,  faithful  friends,  kind  and  charitable 
persons,  honest  workers,  upright  traders,  and  excellent 
citizens,  even  as  amongst  ourselves,  and  very  much  in 
the  same  proportions?  Is  not  average  human  nature 
in  Germany  very  much  upon  the  same  level  as  in  Eng- 
land? Let  us  therefore  make  haste  to  embrace  these 
dear,  kind  folk. 

The  impulses  and  passions,  the  aims  and  ambitions 
of  a  people  are  things  apart  from  the  impulses  and 
passions,  the  aims  and  ambitions  of  the  individual 
members  of  that  people.  They  work  in  a  different  re- 
gion of  each  man's  nature,  and  their  collective  action 
does  not  accord  with  the  private  virtues  of  the  nation, 
and  is  often  in  direct  violation  of  them.  Our  public 
conduct  may  be  detestable,  while  our  home  life  is  irre- 
proachable. Our  public  life  may  be  exemplary,  while 
our  home  life  is  hideous.  I  will  not  let  my  grocer  swin- 
dle me  because  he  is  a  faithful  husband.  I  will  not 
shake  hands  with  the  burglar  who  has  stolen  my  spoons 
because  he  is  kind  to  his  mother.  I  will  judge  him 
by  his  dealings  with  me.  I  will  judge  Germany  by  her 
dealings  with  my  country,  and  with  Belgium,  France, 
Serbia,  Poland,  Kussia,  Rumania,  Japan,  China,  and 
America. 

Let  us  avoid  the  entrapping  fallacy  that,  because  there 
are  individual  Germans  who  are  much  like  individual 
Englishmen,  therefore  after  the  war  the  German  nation 
will  be  like  the  English  nation,  and  will  be  disposed  to- 


112  Patriotism  and 

wards  friendly  relations  with  England,  because  Eng- 
land, after  defeating  her,  may  be  disposed  towards 
friendly  relations  with  Germany. 

No,  I  do  not  seek  to  perpetuate  enmity  between  the 
two  nations.  I  do  but  note  that,  when  the  sun  of  peace 
shall  shine,  dark  shadows  will  fall  in  the  foul  places  of 
Germany. 

When  Germany  utterly  denies  and  renounces  her 
present  aims  and  ambitions,  and  wholly  changes  her 
methods  and  temper — when  she  does  this,  not  by  the 
surface  repentance  of  the  lips,  the  counterfeit  contrition 
of  the  tongue,  but  by  the  surety  of  deeds  and  the  au- 
thentic signature  of  facts,  then,  as  the  passing  years 
shall  vouch  for  her  sincerity,  let  her  be  gradually  ad- 
mitted to  the  society  and  friendships  of  the  nations. 

What  sign  has  the  German  nation  as  a  whole  given 
of  any  such  change  of  nature,  or  of  any  likelihood  of 
it?  All  the  omens  point  the  other  way.  As  I  write, 
the  news  comes  of  the  wanton  sinking  of  another  hos- 
pital ship  and  the  wanton  murder  of  its  crew.  Let 
us  not  deceive  ourselves.  Let  us  be  sure  that  for  a  gen- 
eration after  the  war,  the  master  passion  of  the  Ger- 
man nation  will  be  a  resolute,  abiding  hatred  of  Eng- 
land. It  cannot  be  otherwise. 

How  will  that  hatred  express  itself?  Disarmed  by 
force,  and  doubly  disarmed  by  poverty,  Germany  will 
be  incapable  of  open,  active  aggression.  All  the  en- 
ergy of  her  hatred  will  be  employed  in  intrigue  against 
us.  Do  we  not  know  this  nation  ?  Do  we  not  remem- 
ber with  what  patient,  sleepless,  subtle  contrivance  she 
wove  her  net  around  us  before  the  war,  till  our  trade 
and  all  our  world  interests  were  fast  strangled  in  its 
web?  That  same  super-cunning  will  surely  be  more 
actively  employed  against  us  after  the  war,  enforced 


I 


Popular  Education  113 

as  it  will  be  by  all  the  bitterness  of  defeat  in  the  field. 
What  is  there  to  prevent  our  seeing  this,  except  our 
preference  for  living  a  quiet,  comfortable  life? 
Whether  Germany  is  admitted  to  the  League  of  Na- 
tions or  not,  we  shall  have  to  be  always  on  guard 
against  her  intrigues. 

Now  where  could  Germany  find  a  more  fruitful  and 
capacious  field  for  intrigue  than  in  a  League  of  Na- 
tions, whose  constitution  will  be  most  difficult  to  frame ; 
whose  terms  and  conditions  will  almost  certainly  offend 
some  national  susceptibilities,  and  arouse  some  national 
jealousies  from  the  outset;  whose  balances  will  need 
constant  adjustment,  according  to  the  increasing  or  de- 
clining power  of  any  nation  to  cog  them  to  its  own  ad- 
vantage ;  whose  every  assembly  will  probably  be  a  mar- 
ket for  the  side  bargains  of  secret  diplomacy ;  and  whose 
actual  working  may  sooner  or  later  bring  upon  us  the 
very  evil  it  was  designed  to  protect  us  against. 

Is  not  this  League  of  Nations  the  very  instrument 
that  Germany  would  choose  for  developing  her  future 
intrigues?  Has  she  not  already  signified  her  accept- 
tance  of  it,  and  generously  offered  to  take  the  lead  in 
manipulating  it  ?  Will  it  not  give  her  constant  oppor- 
tunities to  undermine  whatever  unity  there  may  be 
amongst  its  members,  of  playing  them  off  against  each 
other,  in  the  hope  that  in  the  clash  of  jangling  and 
conflicting  interests,  she  may  somehow  shift  the  bal- 
ance in  her  favour,  and  gain  by  manoeuvres  in  council 
something  of  what  she  has  lost  by  defeat  in  the  field? 
Will  it  not  be  to  Germany's  obvious  interest  thus  to 
use  a  League  of  Nations  for  her  own  ends  ?  Then  who 
is  so  simple  as  to  doubt  that  Germany  will  pursue  her 
own  interests  ? 

We  have  already  a  League  of  Nations  banded  against 


114  Patriotism  and 

her.  After  victory,  that  league  will  he  strong  enough 
to  enforce  its  decisions  upon  the  world  without  quihble 
or  intrigue.  Can  anyone  douht  that  when  the  war  is 
ended,  some  short,  quite  simple  covenant  between  the 
nations  composing  that  league,  setting  forth  their  main 
general  aims,  and  proclaiming  their  determination  to 
uphold  the  peace  of  the  world  against  all  disturbers — 
can  anyone  douht  that  such  a  declaration  by  the  Allied 
Nations  will  be  a  much  safer  and  stronger  instrument 
to  work  with,  than  a  necessarily  complicated,  unstable, 
and  precarious  league  of  forty-six  nations,  with  all  their 
discordant  interests,  rivalries,  and  jealousies?  Can  any- 
one doubt  that  such  an  instrument  will  be  much  simpler 
to  fashion,  much  easier  to  handle,  much  less  pervious 
to  the  corruptions  of  secret  diplomacy,  much  less  likely 
to  provoke  international  friction,  and  much  more  likely 
to  secure  the  peace  of  the  world  for  a  lengthened  period  ? 
But  the  advocates  of  a  League  of  Nations  will  be 
satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  the  instant  and  final 
abolition  of  war  from  the  planet,  and  the  peremptory 
establishment  of  perpetual  universal  peace.  Their  sole 
argument  is  that  because  perpetual  universal  peace  is 
so  obviously  desirable,  so  obviously  to  the  general  in- 
terest of  the  nations,  therefore  some  means  must  be 
invented  to  secure  it.  And  a  League  of  Nations  is 
the  only  means  that  they  can  imagine. 

That  perpetual,  universal  peace  is  desirable,  nobody 
questions.  But  many  things  are  desirable  that  are  far 
from  being  possible. 

In  all  future  events  whose  course  cannot  be  precisely 
foreseen  and  demonstrated,  in  all  the  large  maze  of  the 
unknown  that  stretches  before  us,  the  masses  of  man- 
kind believe  what  is  most  pleasing  to  them,  what  makes 
them  most  comfortable  for  the  moment.  It  is  enough 


Popular  Education  115 

for  them  that  something  is  desirable;  if  it  cannot  be 
definitely  proved  to  be  impossible,  it  becomes  a  cer- 
tainty to  them.  I  once  knew  a  man  whose  custom  it 
was  to  spend  his  Sundays  in  singing  verse  of  an  ex- 
ceeding poor  quality  to  the  accompaniment  of  a  har- 
monium, and  in  listening  to  the  exposition  of  a  strange 
system  of  theology  which  I  could  not  comprehend. 
This  pleased  him  so  much,  that  he  thought  he  should 
like  to  spend  eternity  in  the  same  occupations.  I  could 
find  no  evidence  that  he  would  be  so  employed,  but  his 
imagination  became  so  inflamed  with  this  engaging 
prospect,  that  he  was  firmly  convinced  of  its  future 
reality.  That  it  would  be  a  delightful  way  of  spend- 
ing eternity,  was  enough  to  satisfy  him  that  it  was  a 
certainty.  So  the  mere  desirability  of  perpetual  uni- 
versal peace,  is  enough  to  convince  its  projectors  that 
it  will  be  attained,  and  already  they  begin  to  tune  up 
their  harmoniums. 

We  are  like  servant  girls  who  take  their  little  sav- 
ings to  a  fortune  teller,  knowing  that  for  a  shilling  they 
can  buy  a  happy  future  with  a  fair  young  man  who 
possesses  boundless  wealth.  Since  it  cannot  be  proved 
that  the  desirable  fair  young  man  is  not  waiting 
somewhere  about  with  marriageable  intent,  why  not 
take  him  for  a  certainty,  and  render  the  present  drud- 
gery more  endurable  ? 

What  is  the  likelihood  that  a  League  of  Nations  will 
fulfil  its  promise,  and  marry  us  to  fair  young  perpetual 
peace,  and  make  us  happy  and  rich  for  ever  afterwards  ? 
Unless  the  wild  forces  now  let  loose  all  the  world  over, 
should  presently  clash  in  a  blind  mad  industrial  war, 
we  have  a  tolerably  good  security  for  a  lengthened  peace 
in  the  fact  that  all  the  nations  have  exhausted  them- 
selves in  a  cruel  and  bloody  war,  leaving  them  neither 


116  Patriotism  and 

the  means  nor  the  energies  for  further  diversions  of 
that  kind.  Peace  is  probably  assured  for  a  generation 
whether  or  not  we  have  a  League  of  Nations.  For  the 
present  a  League  of  Nations  seems  to  be  largely  un- 
necessary, especially  if  after  the  war,  the  nations  now 
allied  will  enter  into  an  agreement  amongst  themselves, 
and  publish  a  clear  proclamation  of  their  aims.  After 
victory,  the  peace  of  the  world  will  be  in  their  keeping 
for  a  generation  or  two,  and  it  will  best  be  secured  by 
this  simple  means,  and  by  occasional  renewals  of  an 
understanding  among  themselves. 

But  the  projectors  of  a  League  of  Nations  are  de- 
manding a  permanent  compact,  whose  sanctity  they 
allow,  must,  in  the  last  resort,  be  assured  by  the  em- 
ployment of  international  troops.  Is  not  this  almost 
certain  to  provoke  dissension  and  general  disruption  at 
some  future  time?  For  be  it  remembered  that  if  a 
League  of  Nations  is  to  secure  its  avowed  aim,  and  be 
a  perpetual  barrier  against  war,  one  breach  in  its  bul- 
warks may  possibly  let  in  the  devouring  ocean.  One 
single  failure  will  prove  it  to  be  a  dangerous  futility, 
a  bastion  built  of  pasteboard.  Is  not  the  widespread 
misery  and  devastation  of  the  present  war,  largely  due 
to  the  fact  that  England  for  half  a  century,  put  up 
pasteboard  bastions  to  defend  her  empire? 

What  are  the  chances  that  a  League  of  Nations  will 
be  perennially  successful  in  ensuring  peace  by  a  mere 
parade  of  international  troops?  For  if  those  interna- 
tional troops  are  ever  employed  in  actual  warfare 
against  the  disturber  of  the  peace,  what  is  that  but  to 
use  the  exact  means  of  securing  peace  which  the  allied 
nations  are  using  at  this  present  moment  ?  And  if  in 
the  commotion  that  will  ensue,  the  conflicting  interests 
of  the  nations  should  happen  to  shift  to  a  fairly  even 


Popular  Education  117 

balance,  may  it  not  finally  mean  the  employment  of  as 
large  a  number  of  troops  as  are  to-day  engaged  in  en- 
forcing peace  by  tlie  only  means  that  the  nations  have 
yet  discovered  ? 

When  we  assume  the  permanent  success  of  a  League 
of  Nations,  what  do  we  build  upon  ?  Our  first  postu- 
late is  that  the  fundamental  instincts  and  passions 
of  mankind  will  suddenly  change  upon  the  signing  of 
the  peace;  for  hitherto  all  through  the  past,  these  in- 
stincts and  passions  have  at  intervals  embroiled  the 
nations  in  war.  Our  second  postulate  is  that  every 
nation  will  in  the  future  be  endowed  with  a  wise  and 
clear  discernment  of  its  own  interests,  and  that  it  may 
be  trusted  always  to  pursue  these  interests  with  a  strict 
regard  to  all  its  neighbours'  interests.  It  would  be  dif- 
ficult to  find  in  the  past,  one  nation  that  has,  for  any 
length  of  time,  discerned  where  its  true  interests  lay, 
still  less  pursued  them  with  a  strict  regard  to  all  its 
neighbours'  interests.  With  forty-six  nations  and  com- 
munities spreading  more  rapidly  than  ever  over  a  planet 
that  daily  affords  them  less  and  less  fertile  accommo- 
dation, we  may  be  sure  that  their  separate  individual 
interests  will  tend  more  and  more  to  come  into  col- 
lision. If  no  one  nation  can  long  be  trusted  to  pursue 
its  own  interests  in  harmony  with  all  the  conceptions 
and  estimates  which  its  neighbours  have  formed  of 
their  interests,  how  can  forty-six  nations  be  trusted  al- 
ways to  pursue  their  individual  interests  in  harmony 
with  all  the  varying  conceptions  and  estimates  which 
all  their  neighbours  may  happen,  as  time  goes  by,  to 
form  of  their  own  individual  interests  ? 

If  we  carefully  examine  the  foundations  upon  which 
the  projectors  of  a  League  of  Nations  are  building, 
we  shall  find  that  their  corner  stone  is  the  assumption 


118  Patriotism  and 

that  in  the  future  all  the  nations  will  be  wise  for  all 
of  the  time.  That  is  the  ultimate  guarantee  of  the  suc- 
cess of  their  enterprise.  It  is  rash  and  dangerous  to 
assume  that  all  the  nations  will  be  wise  for  part  of  the 
time.  It  is  even  more  rash  and  more  dangerous  to 
assume  that  some  of  the  nations  will  be  wise  for  all 
of  the  time.  But  to  assume  that  all  the  nations  will 
be  wise  for  all  of  the  time,  is  to  ascend  from  the  sublime 
heights  of  Utopia,  to  those  sublime  heights  where  lunar 
beams  fall  full  on  the  naked  skulls  of  fanatics,  and 
moonstruck  unreason  ranges  at  its  will. 

Let  us  descend  to  the  habitable  haunts  of  common 
sense.  Let  us  not  go  bail  for  the  perpetual  reasonable- 
ness and  good  behaviour  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
Let  us  be  sure  that  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  there 
will  be  many  conflicts  of  interest  amongst  the  peoples, 
much  short  sight  and  carelessness  and  blundering  of 
politicians  in  handling  them,  much  muddling  blindness 
in  the  conduct  of  every  nation's  business.  Let  us  hope 
that  mankind  will  learn  many  valuable  lessons  from  the 
war;  but  let  us  not,  because  we  have  battered  down  a 
medieval  robber  stronghold  in  Central  Europe,  assume 
that  therefore  all  democracies  will  in  the  future,  guide 
their  relations  with  all  their  neighbours  from  the  lofty 
standpoint  of  an  unselfish  regard  for  all  their  neigh- 
bours' interests. 

In  the  twilight  of  our  present  uncertainties,  the  keen- 
est foresight  would  hesitate  to  number  or  to  name  the 
forces  that  are  stealthily  gathering  in  the  ambushes  of 
the  future.  What  are  those  dark  forms  moving  dimly 
across  the  horizon  yonder — just  there,  where  the  mi- 
rage of  the  millennium  throws  up  its  faint  ineffectual 
haze — gesticulating  wildly,  with  confused  anarchic 
cries,  and  goading  themselves  into  action?  Who  can 


l 


Popular  Education  119 

foretell  the  groupings  and  cleavages  and  dispositions  of 
the  peoples  ?  Let  us  avert  our  eyes,  and  make  haste  to 
frame  a  League  of  Nations. 

Seeing  that  it  is  very  desirable,  and  not  wholly  im- 
possible, that  wars  should  cease  from  the  moment  that 
this  war  is  ended,  let  us  accept  it  for  a  fact.  War  being 
an  intolerable  nuisance  and  a  great  hindrance  to  busi- 
ness, let  us  away  with  it,  and  manage  international 
affairs  by  a  Committee. 

The  prospect  is  not  reassuring.  In  Committees  that 
deal  with  complex  and  thorny  matters,  it  is  not  justice 
and  good  sense  that  usually  prevail,  but  time-serving 
compromises,  and  temporary  unstable  adjustments  of 
finally  irreconcilable  interests,  jealousies,  and  whimsies, 
The  distilled  essence  of  all  the  wisdom  there  is  amongst 
the  separate  members  of  a  Committee,  often  drains  out 
from  them  as  a  compound  of  folly. 

Still,  let  us  grant  that  when  international  affairs  are 
managed  by  a  Committee  of  the  League  of  Nations, 
justice  and  good  sense  will  contrive  to  keep  the  upper 
hand  perpetually.  Let  us  assume  that  the  Committee 
will  be  always  wise  and  always  honest,  and  that  they 
will  succeed  in  persuading  the  Nations  they  represent 
to  be  always  wise  and  always  honest  in  pursuit  of  their 
individual  interests.  No  force  will  then  ever  need  to 
be  used,  and  war  will  be  banished  from  our  planet. 

What  does  that  signify  ? 

The  instinct  of  self-preservation  in  every  people,  the 
fear  of  being  pushed  or  stamped  out,  the  hunger  for 
national  life  and  for  yet  more  national  life,  the  desire 
of  mastery,  the  pride  of  place — all  these  primary,  in- 
eradicable impulses  will  still  be  at  work  all  the  world 
over,  and  no  longer  finding  their  outlet  in  war,  will 
find  it  in  an  incessant,  fierce,  and  bitter  economic  strug- 


120  Patriotism  and 

gle.  Let  us  not  dream  that  when  we  cease  from  war, 
we  shall  cease  from  fighting.  The  competition  in  arma- 
ments will  be  metamorphosed  into  a  competition 
amongst  all  the  impoverished  nations  for  the  means  of 
life,  and  for  the  sources  of  nourishment  and  comfort. 
Already  the  smell  of  that  battle  is  in  the  air,  and  tariff 
constructors  in  all  countries  are  pawing  their  hoofs, 
and  champing  their  bridles  to  charge  at  the  enemy. 

Will  that  new  war  upon  which  we  shall  enter  as  soon 
as  the  last  cannon  shot  is  fired  in  this,  be  so  rich  with 
spiritual  issues,  and  bring  home  to  mankind  so  large 
a  spiritual  victory  as  this  present  conflict  ?  With  all  its 
unimaginable  count  of  sufferings,  horrors,  defilements, 
and  slaughters,  this  war  will  yet  leave  to  humanity  an 
entailed  legacy  of  supreme  accomplishment,  of  un- 
flinching fortitudes  and  heroisms  immeasurable;  of 
reckless,  stupendous  self-sacrifices,  and  of  indomitable 
resolution  in  the  achievement  of  the  noblest  ends.  Can 
we  hope  that  the  coming  commercial  war  will  bring 
to  its  combatants,  any  such  purging  and  regeneration 
of  their  natures,  any  such  kindling  inspiration  to  live 
and  to  die  at  the  highmost  pitch  of  unselfish  endeavour, 
and  to  win  the  heavenly  prize  for  unrecorded,  unre- 
warded devotion  to  duty? 

Peace  hath  her  victories  no  less  renowned  than  war, 
but  their  winning  does  not  stir  and  sting  our  souls  to 
their  finest  responses,  or  nerve  great  multitudes  to  en- 
dure agony  and  martyrdom  in  deadly  wrestle  with  the 
powers  of  darkness,  or  leave  the  hearts  of  men  tingling 
with  exultant  remembrance  of  conquest  over  enthroned 
and  fortressed  evil.  Victories  of  peace  bring  provender 
and  comfort  and  happiness  to  mankind,  but  victories 
in  righteous  war  sow  rich  lattermaths  of  spiritual  sat- 
isfaction, and  harvests  of  spiritual  profit.  We  justly 


Popular  Education  121 

honour  the  statesmen  who  negotiate  for  us  a  wise  com- 
mercial treaty,  or  ease  our  financial  burdens  by  sound 
national  economy;  but  we  never  pay  them  the  adoring 
homage  that  we  render  to  the  three  mighty  men  who 
brake  through  the  host  of  the  Philistines  to  bring  a 
cup  of  water  from  the  well  by  the  gate  of  Bethlehem; 
or  to  the  common  soldier  who  crawls  out  in  a  hail  of 
fire  and  willingly  offers  his  life  to  save  a  wounded 
comrade.  That  broken,  bandaged  wreck  of  humanity 
in  blue  flannel,  who  sits  and  warms  himself  in  the 
sun  on  yonder  bench,  his  crutches  by  his  side,  his 
strength  and  lustihood  left  in  the  Flanders  trenches, 
his  flaming  youth  quenched  into  apathy  and  listless 
surrender,  his  manhood  cheated  of  the  bustle  of  glad 
vigorous  toil,  and  the  joys  and  caresses  of  home,  his 
hopes  subdued  within  the  narrow  compass  of  a  cripple's 
aims  and  efforts,  a  looker-on  at  life  for  all  his  long,  help- 
less years — that  shattered  blue  pensioner  has  in  his 
heart  the  source  of  a  sacred  pride,  an  enviable  boast 
and  solace  of  supreme  service  rendered  to  his  fellows, 
of  duty  done  in  defiance  of  death  and  hell,  that  no  busy 
workman,  or  useful  clerk,  or  prosperous  tradesman,  or 
industrial  magnate  will  ever  win  for  himself  in  the 
warfare  of  commerce.  For  he  gave  his  all  for  his  fel- 
lows, and  his  wages  are  mutilation,  and  a  pittance,  and 
frustrated,  lonely  helplessness. 

It  is  a  sure  and  true  instinct  that  marks  the  man 
who  defends  his  country,  and  not  merely  for  admira- 
tion and  honour,  but  for  admiration  and  honour  of  a 
peculiar  kind  that  we  give  to  no  other  man.  The  sol- 
dier fights  for  others;  the  hardships  are  for  him  and 
the  benefits  are  for  others.  But  in  commercial  war- 
fare, each  man  fights  for  himself;  the  hardships  are 
often  for  others  and  the  benefits  chiefly  for  himself. 


122  Patriotism  and 

If,  then,  in  the  future,  war  is  banished  from  the 
planet,  and  men's  primal  ineradicable  instincts  of  riv- 
alry, aggression,  and  dominance  find  their  fierce  play 
no  longer  in  the  battlefield,  but  in  the  factory,  the  shop, 
and  the  counting-house,  will  it  be  wholly  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  mankind  ?  Closing  our  eyes  to  the  threat- 
ening signs  of  an  interregnum  of  widespread  social  an- 
archy, which  may  possibly  follow  the  present  war,  we 
are  preparing  ourselves  for  a  long  era  of  hard,  com- 
mercial strain,  and  economic  conflict. 

How  will  the  graces  and  virtues  of  the  spirit,  the 
valours  and  sanctities  of  the  soul,  the  ornaments  and 
elegancies  of  the  mind,  fare  in  the  hustle  and  juggle 
and  scrimmage  of  world-wide,  universal,  commercial 
war? 

I  have  known  much  of  English  commercial  life.  I 
have  some  knowledge  and  experience  of  American  com- 
mercial methods  and  practices.  These  nations  may 
justly  claim  that,  as  human  nature  is  constituted,  they 
compare  very  favourably  with  most  other  nations. 
There  is  certainly  a  greater  proportion  of  righteous  men 
in  London  and  in  New  York,  than  would  have  saved 
Sodom  from  destruction.  But  commercial  life  every- 
where seems  to  be  necessarily  leavened  with  baseness, 
dishonesty,  greed,  and  cunning  selfishness.  Can  we 
contemplate,  with  any  satisfaction,  the  perpetual  dedi- 
cation of  the  greater  part  of  mankind  to  industrialism 
and  commercialism,  human  life  everywhere  becoming 
more  mechanical,  more  uniformly  prosperous  and  banal 
and  smug,  dwarfed  down  to  standards  of  material  com- 
fort and  competence?  The  spirit  of  man  loses  its  fin- 
est impulses,  loses  its  wings  if  it  stays  too  long  in  the 
warm  nest  of  material  prosperity.  On  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic,  amongst  men  of  high  repute  and  great  com- 


Popular  Education  123 

mercial  standing,  I  have  known  trade  dealings  and 
daily  practices  so  abhorrently  mean  and  dishonest,  that 
rather  than  put  my  son  to  fight  for  his  livelihood  with 
such  weapons,  I  would  thrust  him  into  the  deadliest 
forefront  of  our  battle  line,  and  think  I  had  acted  well 
by  him.  Those  fathers  who  in  future  years  will  send 
their  sons  into  that  fierce  economic  battle  with  all  its 
ignoble  evils  and  chicaneries,  will  show  no  cause  for 
envy  to  him,  who,  having  in  his  heart  the  consecrated 
remembrance  of  a  son  fallen  in  Flanders,  can  say  with 
old  Siward: 

God's  soldier  be  he! 
Had  I  as  many  sons  as  I  have  hairs! 
I  could  not  wish  them  to  a  fairer  death. 

Is  there  not  some  reason  for  the  suspicion  men  have 
always  had,  that  a  prolonged  peace  inevitably  tends  to 
corruption,  lethargy,  internal  mischief,  and  fatty  de- 
generation of  the  peoples?  Is  not  that  suspicion  veri- 
fied by  the  condition  of  England  before  the  war?  Let 
us  suppose  that  the  nations  now  settle  into  a  long  amity 
and  fruitful  friendship  of  labour  for  each  other's  good ; 
tfeat  natural  resources  are  everywhere  developed;  that 
gradually  the  losses  and  impoverishments  of  the  war  are 
made  good ;  that  the  waste  places  of  the  earth  are  sown 
with  abundant  harvests;  that  large  cities  spring  up  in 
every  land,  with  increasing  populations  and  accumula- 
tions of  wealth;  that  our  now  empty  exchequers  are 
filled  to  overflowing;  that  in  the  meantime  all  provoca- 
tions to  war  have  been  successfully  parried  by  the 
League  of  Nations;  that  all  national  jealousies  have 
been  quelled,  all  national  antipathies  allayed,  all  dis- 
cordant national  ambitions  renounced,  all  conflicting  na- 
tional interests  sacrificed  for  the  common  welfare. 
Some  such  ultimate  condition  of  affairs  on  the  surface 


124  Patriotism  and 

of  the  planet,  is  what  the  projectors  of  a  League  of 
Nations  must  have  in  their  mind,  so  far  as  they  are  not 
weltering  in  confused  amiability,  and  do  really  know 
and  understand  what  they  are  aiming  at,  and  what  they 
propose  to  achieve.  I  do  not  say  that  such  a  general 
condition  of  affairs  will  ever  be  possible.  I  do  say 
that  it  is  the  only  general  condition  of  affairs  which  an 
advocate  of  a  League  of  Nations  can  conceive,  or  can 
desire,  as  the  final  and  successful  outcome  of  his  plan. 
If  that  is  not  what  he  is  working  for,  aiming  at,  pro- 
posing to  achieve,  what  general  condition  of  affairs  does 
he  set  before  himself  as  likely  to  be  ultimately  estab-' 
lished  by  the  operations  of  a  League  of  Nations? 

Let  us  place  ourselves  in  the  distant  future  and 
imagine  that  this  seductive  forecast  is  already  fulfilled, 
that  the  League  of  Nations  has  accomplished  all  that 
its  founders  hoped  and  proposed.  It  needs  great  hardi- 
hood of  faith  in  lucky  chance,  and  still  greater  hardi- 
hood of  faith  in  the  constant  and  universal  wisdom 
of  mankind,  to  suppose  that  such  a  general  condition 
of  human  affairs  will  be  realised  without  war  amongst 
the  nations.  It  needs  much  hardihood  of  faith  to  sup- 
pose it  will  be  realized  without  war  between  classes. 
And  surely,  if  it  is  desirable  to  prevent  bloodshed  be- 
tween nations,  it  is  equally  desirable  to  prevent  blood- 
shed between  classes.  Since,  however,  the  League  of 
Nations  does  not  concern  itself  with  the  possible  super- 
vention of  a  widespread  class  war,  let  us  for  the  time 
leave  it  out  of  our  calculations. 

Let  us  suppose  that  the  League  of  Nations,  through- 
out a  long  lapse  of  years  and  many  generations,  has 
fulfilled  the  most  ardent  desires  of  its  promoters.  The 
covetings  and  passions  of  the  forty-six  nations  have  been 
ruled  out  of  order  bv  the  decisions  of  our  Committee. 


Popular  Education  125 

Wars  have  ceased.  Armaments  have  gradually  fallen 
into  disuse.  Weapons  of  destruction  are  no  longer 
manufactured.  The  last  great  war  in  the  early  twen- 
tieth century  has  become  a  mere  dusty  storehouse  for 
historians  and  romancers.  Under  the  long  reign  of 
peace,  and  aided  by  science  and  mechanics,  mankind 
have  increased  and  multiplied  at  an  ever-swiftening 
rate,  until  they  have  occupied  all  the  fertile  spaces 
of  the  earth,  from  the  sands  of  the  Tropics  to  the  ice 
fringes  of  the  Poles.  Old  nations  have  dwindled  and 
perished ;  new  nations  and  races  have  arisen  and  multi- 
plied. And  meantime,  terrified  by  the  past  awful  ex- 
ample of  this  present  war,  the  turbulent  new  young 
races  have  meekly  trodden  the  paths  of  peace,  obedient 
to  the  rulings  of  our  Committee,  who  have  nicely  ac- 
commodated and  smoothed  away  every  difficulty,  every 
animosity,  every  aggression,  every  threat  of  disruption 
as  it  arose. 

But  owing  to  the  continued  prosperity  and  abund- 
ance brought  about  by  perpetual  peace,  the  earth  has 
become  inconveniently  and  dangerously  over-populated. 
Unfortunately,  the  various  peoples  have  kept  on  breed- 
ing; and  the  new  younger  races  have  been  breeding 
much  faster  than  the  older  ones.  These  vigorous  up- 
starts have  been  growing  more  and  more  dissatisfied 
with  the  stretches  of  territory,  the  privileges,  and  the 
opportunities  for  expansion  allotted  to  them  by  our 
Committee.  They  have  long  been  a  gathering  threat 
to  the  peaceful  economy  of  the  world,  established  by  the 
League  of  Nations — these  fast  multiplying  parvenus 
with  odious  practices  in  morals,  and  complexions  equal- 
ly objectionable.  For  in  a  world  once  and  for  all  made 
safe  for  democracy,  Nature,  having  none  of  our  preju- 
dices against  a  shady  complexion,  has  allowed  and 


126  Patriotism  and 

encouraged  an  altogether  disproportionate  increase  of 
these  swarthy,  unscrupulous  breeders.  Hitherto  they 
have  been  kept  in  awe  by  the  sage  admonitions  and  de- 
cisions of  our  Committee,  and  by  the  tradition,  handed 
down  from  the  early  twentieth  century,  that  war  is  a 
cruel  and  horrible  process,  and  that  its  weapons  are 
so  dangerous  and  destructive  that  it  is  inadvisable  to 
meddle  with  them.  Under  a  system  of  universal  Pop- 
ular Education,  even  more  generous  and  illuminating 
than  the  one  you  have  so  successfully  inaugurated,  these 
young  races  have  possessed  themselves  of  all  the  dis- 
coveries of  science.  Their  growing  ambitions,  their 
pride  of  adolescent  strength,  their  consciousness  of 
power,  their  desire  of  mastery  over  the  older  nations, 
their  sense  of  not  being  allotted  their  proper  place  in 
the  world — all  these  ineradicable  human  instincts  and 
passions  have  long  been  unbearably  suppressed  and  con- 
tained. And  the  world  is  over-populated,  and  all  its 
desirable  and  habitable  territory  is  occupied. 

Can  anyone  imagine  a  general  condition  of  affairs 
more  ripe  and  certain  to  lead  to  a  world-wide  devastat- 
ing war?  Yet  some  such  general  condition  of  affairs 
must  be  the  inevitable  result  of  a  League  of  Nations, 
if  its  operations  are  continuously  successful.  Nor  can 
its  advocates  indicate  any  definite  possible  alternative, 
without  postulating  that  the  fundamental  instincts  and 
passions  of  humanity  will  change,  and  that  man  will 
become  a  creature  of  so  different  a  nature  from  our- 
selves that  no  prognosis  can  be  made  about  him. 

Again,  I  do  not  assert  or  believe  that  humanity  will 
ever  arrive  a.t  such  a  general  condition  of  affairs.  But 
an  onus  lies  upon  the  projectors  of  the  League  of  Na- 
tions to  tell  us  what  other  developments  are  possible, 
what  other  goal  they  expect  to  reach,  and,  when  they 


Popular  Education  127 

reach  that  goal,  what  agency  is  to  intervene  and  pre- 
vent the  successful  working  of  their  machine  from 
leading  to  a  malignant  outburst  of  the  very  evil  it  was 
designed  to  abolish. 

I  do  not  suppose  that  there  is  any  believer  in  the 
efficacy  of  a  League  of  Nations  who  will  not  acknowl- 
edge that  long  before  the  world  has  arrived  at  that  con- 
dition of  affairs  I  have  indicated,  the  League  will  be 
dissolved  or  superseded. 

By  what,  but  by  war  ? 

Is  it  imagined  that  some  even  more  binding  and  en- 
during safeguard  will  be  discovered  to  secure  universal 
perpetual  peace?  What  league,  or  compact,  or  safe- 
guard can  be  conceived  that  does  not  rest  upon  the  as- 
sumption that  all  the  nations  will  be  wise  for  all  of  the 
time,  and  that  they  will  all  show  a  perpetual  lofty  re- 
gard for  all  their  neighbours'  interests,  and  a  perpetual 
readiness  for  self-abnegation?  Nothing  that  we  know 
of  the  history  of  mankind  in  the  past,  nothing  that  we 
can  observe  of  the  nature  and  motives  of  mankind  in 
the  present,  nothing  that  we  can  reasonably  hope  of 
mankind  in  the  future,  warrants  us  in  putting  trust  in 
any  such  shaky  security.  Probably  the  advocates  of 
a  League  of  Nations,  if  they  can  be  summoned  from 
the  cloudy  mountain-tops  of  amiable  generalities  and 
benevolent  aspirations,  will  admit  as  much.  Then  they 
admit  that  their  scheme  is  merely  tentative,  experimen- 
tal, temporary;  a  paserelle  that  will  not  bear  the  con- 
tinuous weight  of  the  world's  lumbering  heavy  traffic, 
but  will  break  down  whenever  too  great  a  strain  is  put 
upon  its  fragile  supports.  It  may  not  break  down  for 
generations.  Is  there  any  assurance  that  it  may  not 
break  down  within  five  years  ?  After  our  victory,  when 
peace  is  signed,  will  the  world's  forces  be  in  such  a 


128  Patriotism  and 

state  of  stable  equilibrium,  that  there  will  be  no  dan- 
ger of  some  fresh  outbreak  of  war  ?  Everything  prom- 
ises fair  for  a  long  reign  of  peace,  if  the  enormous 
difficulties  of  the  settlement  can  be  successfully  nego- 
tiated. But,  granted  that  some  tolerable  general  ac- 
commodation is  secured,  can  we  be  certain  that  it  will 
endure  for  any  great  length  of  time,  and  that  all  in- 
ternational concord  may  not  soon  be  broken  and  rent 
by  class  divisions  and  warfare?  This  tempest  will 
not  subside  without  leaving  a  tremendous  ground-swell, 
and  clashing,  baffling  cross-currents  that  no  man  can 
divine.  Will  the  strongest  advocate  of  a  League  of 
Nations  guarantee  for  it  any  stability,  amidst  the  clash 
of  the  world  forces  that  will  meet  round  its  cradle  ? 

The  one  thing  of  sovereign  surety  for  us  to  note,  and 
to  keep  in  mind  as  a  guide  and  director  of  our  perma- 
nent national  policy,  is  that  the  longer  a  League  of 
Nations  works  successfully,  the  nearer  it  leads  us  to 
the  approach  of  war.  For  by  its  very  operation,  it  tends 
to  bring  about  a  state  of  prosperity  amongst  the  most 
advanced  nations,  a  period  of  temporary  adjustments 
and  compromises  amongst  finally  irreconcileable  inter- 
ests, and  an  over-reaching  surplus  of  population,  that 
are  of  themselves  the  surest  provocations  to  war. 

This  law  of  balancing  alternations  of  peace  and  war 
can  be  traced  through  all  past  history,  though  its  in- 
cidence has  often  been  obscured  by  the  ambitions  and 
decrees  of  kings,  and  the  mistakes  and  follies  of  states- 
men. May  we  not  claim  that  the  present  war  is  one  of 
its  alternations?  For  though  the  German  Emperor 
may  be  the  last  monarch  who  will  strut  and  crow  and 
bluster  out  blasphemy  to  inflame  his  people  to  their 
destruction,  the  German  nation  will  not  be  the  last 
nation  to  demand  a  larger  place  in  the  sun  than  their 


Popular  Education  129 

neighbours  will  allow  them.  We  may  feel  reasonably 
confident  that  this  law  of  balancing  alternations  of 
peace  and  war  will  be  operative  in  the  future,  as  it  has 
been  in  the  past,  though  its  periods  may  be  more  within 
the  control  of  our  foresight.  But  no  foresight  can 
finally  avert  its  operation,  seeing  that  it  is  the  necessary 
result  of  the  permanent  fundamental  instincts  of  man- 
kind in  constant  struggle  with  the  permanent  condi- 
tions of  life. 

This  law  is  in  perpetual  operation  over  all  the  spaces 
of  the  earth,  and  chiefly  in  those  areas  that  are  most 
thickly  populated  and  congested.  By  recognizing  its 
necessity  and  preparing  for  its  incidence,  nations  may 
avoid  the  worst  evils  of  its  recurring  vicissitudes.  By 
denying  it,  and  seeking  to  elude  its  operation,  as  we 
did  in  the  generation  before  the  war,  nations  do  but 
bring  themselves  all  the  more  surely  and  terribly  under 
its  rigours.  For  it  mocks  at  such  phrases  as  "making 
the  world  safe  for  democracy,"  and  tosses  them  into  the 
limbo  of  futilities,  and  self-deceptions,  and  fallacious 
generalities. 

Nor,  supposing  that  we  could  split  up  the  peoples 
and  segregate  them  in  classes  instead  of  in  nations, 
should  we  defeat  or  long  arrest  the  operation  of  this 
law.  Indeed,  there  is  every  indication  that  the  di- 
vision of  the  world  into  classes,  if  it  could  be  stabilized, 
would  put  supreme  power  into  the  hands  of  men  less 
wise,  less  regardful  of  the  rights  of  others,  more  greedy 
of  authority,  more  unscrupulous  in  using  it,  more  short- 
sighted, and  more  likely  to  bring  about  frequent  and 
bloody  intermissions  of  the  world's  peace,  than  the  po- 
tentates and  politicians  who  have  hitherto  ruled  or 
misruled  the  nations.  In  their  pursuit  of  the  phantom 
of  equality,  men  may  yet  bring  upon  themselves  suffer- 


130  Patriotism  and 

ings  and  horrors  as  great  as  any  they  are  now  endur- 
ing. While  if  perfect  equality  could  be  attained  for 
one  single  moment,  that  moment  could  be  the  starting 
point  of  the  cruelest  universal  war  the  world  has  ever 
known.  Unless,  indeed,  all  the  fundamental  instincts 
and  passions  of  mankind  had  been  exterminated  in  the 
process  of  reaching  equality.  In  that  event,  the  pros- 
pect before  dehumanized  and  sterilized  mankind  would 
be  a  state  of  incessant  mechanical  monotonous  toil,  for 
a  race  of  beings  as  stereotyped  into  uniformity  as  the 
inmates  of  a  beehive,  and  with  no  higher  functions,  or 
ambitions,  or  hopes,  or  varieties  of  interest. 

The  combative  instincts  of  our  race  will  always 
prevent  us  from  reaching  anything  that  approaches  to 
a  state  of  equality.  And  these  combative  instincts  will 
always  find  their  exercise  alternately  in  a  war  of  com- 
merce, and  in  a  war  of  arms.  The  longer  the  nations 
dance  round  and  round  the  mulberry  bush  of  perpetual 
peace,  the  more  likely  they  are  to  tumble  back  head- 
long into  the  slough  of  war  that  lies  just  outside  their 
careless  circle.  The  final  responsible  custodian  of  peace 
will  never  be  the  international  lawyer,  the  politician, 
the  preacher,  the  humanitarian,  or  the  policeman,  but 
always  the  soldiers. 

This  need  not  prevent  us  from  doing  all  we  can  to 
postpone  the  intervention  of  the  soldier  till  the  latest 
moment,  to  dispense  with  his  services  whenever  it  is 
possible,  to  make  his  visits  as  rare  and  brief  and  hu- 
mane as  may  be,  and  to  give  him  his  earliest  dismissal 
when  his  work  is  done.  To  recognize  that  war  may  be 
an  occasional  necessity,  is  not  to  acclaim  it  as  a  bless- 
ing, or  to  sanctify  it  as  an  idol.  The  surest  way  to 
avoid  the  worst  evils  and  horrors  of  war,  is  to  be  aware 
when  they  are  lurking  in  our  path,  and  to  be  vigilantly 


Popular  Education  131 

prepared  to  meet  them.  Let  us  do  everything  in  our 
power  to  promote  good  will  and  good  understanding 
amongst  the  peoples,  and  to  subdue  international  riv- 
alries and  aggressions.  But  if  we  carefully  study  the 
profiles  and  facial  angles  of  the  various  peoples  of  the 
earth,  beginning  with  our  daily  companions  in  the 
motor-buses  and  tubes,  we  shall  be  driven  to  the  sad  and 
humble  confession  that  man  has  not  yet  advanced  much 
more  than  half-way  on  his  progress  from  the  anthropoid 
to  the  angel,  and  that  probably  much  tough  miscellan- 
eous fighting,  both  bodily  and  spiritual,  lies  before 
him  in  his  ascending  path. 

The  immediate  danger  of  a  League  of  Nations  is 
that  it  will  give  Germany  constant  opportunities  to 
intrigue  and  stir  up  dissensions  within  it. 

Why  this  constant  distrust  and  suspicion  of  Ger- 
many? Are  we  not  assured  that  the  moment  peace  is 
signed,  the  Ethiopian  will  change  his  skin,  and  the 
leopard  his  spots,  and  that  Germany  will  straightway 
tear  out  all  the  rooted  fibres  of  cunning,  aggression, 
and  cruel  ambition  that  are  her  dear  heart-strings,  and 
that  are  twined  round  all  the  nerves  and  muscles  of  her 
national  being  ?  Why,  then,  when  we  are  about  to  en- 
ter upon  a  long  and  bitter  economic  war  with  her, 
and  when  she  has  already  devised  new  schemes  of 
commercial  frightfulness  to  be  employed  against  us — 
why  not  seize  this  new  chance  of  hoodwinking  our- 
selves, as  we  did  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  war, 
and  give  her  a  free  hand  to  pursue  her  economic  policy 
to  our  disadvantage  and  disaster? 

Not  by  a  League  of  Nations,  with  its  unstable  con- 
stitution offering  continual  opportunities  for  any  dis- 
satisfied nation  to  stir  up  strife,  but  by  a  firm  com- 
pact between  the  Allies  now  fighting  to  redeem  civiliza- 


132  Patriotism  and 

tion,  and  by  a  simple  unequivocal  declaration  of  their 
aims,  will  a  lengthened  world-peace  be  most  likely  to 
ensue. 

The  remote,  but  very  real  and  permanent,  danger  of 
a  League  of  Nations  is  that  the  longer  it  works  suc- 
cessfully, the  more  the  peoples  will  nurse  the  delusion 
that  they  are  protected  from  all  danger  of  war  by  an 
automatic  machine,  and  will  be  lulled  again  into  the 
same  false  security  from  which  we  have  just  been  so 
rudely  awakened.  Will  not  some  distant  future  time 
arrive  when  again  the  nations  will  be  fat  regorged  with 
comfort  and  prosperity,  while  in  the  gathering  clouds 
above  them,  black  Hecate  sits  singing  to  her  sisters  the 
same  song  she  was  singing  over  us  five  years  ago — 

For  you  all  know,  security 
Is  mortal's   chiefest  enemy. 

If  we  could  convey  ourselves  to  A.D.  6920,  and,  look- 
ing backward,  see  spread  out  before  us  the  map  of  the 
world's  history  for  the  past  ten  thousand  years,  all 
woven  into  one  continuous  whole,  should  we  find  that 
while  the  first  five  thousand  years  up  to  1920  were 
sprinkled  red  all  over  with  bloodstains  of  the  jarring 
nations,  the  last  five  thousand  years  were  one  long 
white  roll  of  unstained  perpetual  peace?  Should  we 
find  that  the  same  breed  of  human  kind,  with  the  same 
passions  and  instincts,  and  living  under  the  same  per- 
manent natural  laws  that  provoke  them  to  constant 
rivalry  and  strife — that  this  same  breed  of  men,  who 
had  scarcely  allowed  one  of  the  first  five  thousand  years 
to  pass  without  some  rupture  of  peace,  suddenly  on 
a  certain  date  about  1920  renounced  all  their  ancestral 
impulses  and  habits,  reversed  all  the  momentum  of  the 
past,  threw  up  their  weapons,  placed  themselves  under 


Popular  Education  133 

the  guidance  of  a  Committee,  and  passed  the  last  five 
thousand  years  without  any  embroilment  of  war?  If 
there  is  any  advocate  of  a  League  of  Nations  who  be- 
lieves that  human  affairs  will  take  such  a  course  in 
the  next  five  thousand  years,  in  the  next  five  hundred, 
I  entreat  him  to  read  a  suggestive  pamphlet  by  an  anon- 
ymous author,  called  "The  Folly  of  having  Opinions — 
a  Perennial  Caution  to  Mankind."  This  thoughtful  lit- 
tle brochure  should  be  in  everybody's  hands.  I  am  told 
it  is  to  be  read  aloud  at  the  opening  of  the  next  Church 
Congress. 

That  the  years  1914-1920  will  be  a  dividing  line  be- 
tween two  definitely  marked  periods  of  human  history, 
and  perhaps  between  two  widely  differing  kinds  of 
civilization,  we  have  reason  to  believe.  It  is  even  con- 
ceivable that  the  events  of  these  years  will  ultimately 
work  such  beneficial  changes  in  human  thought  and 
action,  and  in  the  conditions  of  living,  that  some  future 
philosopher  may  claim  that,  on  the  whole,  the  war 
brought  a  balance  of  good  to  mankind.  But  no  sur- 
veyor of  these  years  in  the  distant  future  will  find  that 
the  continuity  of  human  history  was  then  severed  as  by 
scissors,  cutting  off  all  the  threads  of  national  passions, 
ambitions,  and  rivalries  that  in  former  times  wove 
themselves  into  the  dreadful  pattern  of  war,  and  leav- 
ing them  for  all  tima,  to  come  hanging  loose  in  the 
void. 

If  we  look  into  the  dark  backward  and  abysm  of 
time  so  far  as  eyes  can  reach,  we  see  that  war  has  in- 
termittently arisen  in  every  habitable  tract  of  the  earth, 
from  the  Equator  to  the  Arctic  snows.  It  has  intermit- 
tently arisen  amongst  every  nation  and  race.  It  has 
intermittently  arisen  in  every  phase  of  every  succeed- 
ing civilization — amongst  the  lowest  savages,  and 


134  Patriotism  and 

amongst  the  peoples  who  have  reached  the  highest  levels 
of  literature  and  art  and  luxury.  It  has  intermittently 
arisen  under  all  the  varying  forms  of  religion. 

Vast  regions  of  the  earth  have  been  changed  from 
swamp  and  desert  and  forest,  into  plains  of  fruitful 
cultivation  and  busy  streets  of  commerce  and  industry, 
and  have  passed  again  into  desolate  wastes  and  haunts 
of  lizards  and  creeping  things.  War  has  been  the  hand- 
maiden of  both  changes.  Scattered  tribes  in  caves  and 
huts,  have  grown  into  powerful  nations  in  populous 
cities,  holding  half  the  world  in  fee,  and  have  dwindled 
into  poverty  and  impotence  and  decay.  War  welded 
them  into  unity  and  gave  them  the  sceptre  of  dominion ; 
war  snatched  that  sceptre  from  their  hands,  shattered 
their  pride,  and  gave  their  heritage  to  their  foes.  Count- 
less civilizations  have  sprung  up  through  all  the  ages  in 
all  quarters  of  the  globe,  differing  strangely  in  laws  and 
customs  and  manners,  and  in  their  forms  of  literature 
and  art.  War  has  largely  framed  their  codes,  and  laid 
the  corner  stones  of  their  institutions.  War  has  always 
been  busy  inspiring  literature,  designing  fashion  in 
dress,  giving  laws  to  architecture.  War  has  jogged 
the  cradle  of  every  civilization,  and  pushed  it  into  its 
grave.  A  thousand  forms  of  religion  have  in  their 
turn  held  sway  over  the  spirit  of  man,  from  the  crudest 
superstition  to  the  latest  refinements  of  Neo-Christian- 
ity.  War  has  alternately  been  the  protector  and  the  de- 
stroyer of  each  of  them,  sometimes  its  imperious  mas- 
ter, more  often  its  ready  servant.  The  priests  of  every 
creed  have  blessed  their  country's  banners,  and  preached 
their  crusades. 

That  is  what  we  see  when  we  look  into  the  dark  back- 
ward and  abysm  of  time. 

If  we  could  look  into  the  dark  forward  and  abysm  of 


Popular  Education  135 

time,  should  we  see  a  sudden  disappearance  from  all 
human  affairs,  of  this  compulsive  giant  who  has  hither- 
to been  active  in  them  all,  and  has  penetrated  and  in- 
formed every  nation,  every  social  fabric,  every  civiliza- 
tion, every  creed,  through  every  generation  that  has 
lived  under  the  sun?  Should  we  see  an  abrupt  stop- 
page at  A.D.  1920,  of  all  the  natural  forces  that  have 
hitherto  swept  the  peoples  of  the  earth  into  conflict 
with  each  other  after  the  lapse  of  every  few  years? 
Should  we  see  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  of  na- 
tional rivalries,  and  enmities,  and  ambitions  securely 
dammed  up  by  the  word  of  man,  their  Pontic  rush  and 
flow  arrested,  the  flood  of  their  waters  standing  like 
a  wall,  as  the  waters  of  the  Red  Sea  stood  at  the  com- 
mand of  Moses? 

Is  it  probable?  Is  it  credible?  Does  anyone  claim 
that  this  is  what  will  happen  after  1920  ?  He  is  not  in 
communion  with  facts.  He  is  in  communion  with  his 
whimsies.  He  is  living  in  a  world  where  action  does 
not  call  forth  reaction. 

The  f ramers  of  a  League  of  Nations  may  stand  upon 
the  beach,  and  bid  the  main  flood  bate  his  usual  height 
Canute  issued  a  command  to  the  same  effect,  and  if  he 
had  chosen  the  moment  of  an  ebbing  tide,  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  sea  would  have  obeyed  him. 
The  framers  of  a  League  of  Nations  are  likely  to  be 
more  fortunate.  They  will  be  calling  upon  an  ebbing 
tide  to  recede,  and  they  will  doubtless  have  the  satisfac- 
tion of  seeing  the  angry  waves  subside  at  their  bidding. 
But  when  the  flood  tide  shall  return,  will  they  fare  any 
better  than  the  other  children  who  build  their  castles  on 
the  sands  ? 

Nations  rarely  go  to  war  because  they  desire  to  go 
to  war.  There  is  always  an  almost  universal  prepos- 


136  Patriotism  and 

session  in  favour  of  peace.  War  insinuates  itself ;  it  lies 
in  wait  for  the  nations,  and  ere  ever  they  are  aware  of 
it,  they  are  sucked  into  its  whirlpool.  The  advocates  of 
a  League  of  Nations  perceive  this,  and  propose  to  set 
a  trap  for  War,  as  for  some  outside,  visible,  tangible 
enemy;  not  knowing  that  he  is  lurking  in  their  own 
hearts  all  the  while,  and  that  his  instruments  are  not 
guns  and  bombs,  but  the  abiding  envies  and  greeds  and 
selfish  instincts  of  mankind. 

Could  any  nation  be  more  resolutely  pacific  than  was 
America  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war?  The  prevailing 
opinion  was  that  the  peoples  of  Europe  had  gone  mad. 
Clearly  the  only  thing  that  sane  America  could  do  was 
to  wonder  and  shudder  at  the  crazy,  bloody  spectacle ;  to 
feel  thankful  to  be  out  of  it;  and  to  stand  aside  till  a 
chance  came  to  mediate.  No  other  role  seemed  possible 
to  Americans. 

But  events  they  had  not  willed  or  foreseen,  beckoned 
them  to  come  and  take  their  part.  They  protestedr 
They  refused.  It  shocked  all  their  stock  habits  of  na- 
tional thought;  it  violated  all  their  standards  of  na- 
tional conduct ;  it  mocked  at  all  their  cherished  national 
ideals.  They  would  have  none  of  it. 

The  summoning,  clamouring  war  trumpets  of  Eu- 
rope blared  out  another  furious  call.  They  roused 
American  mothers  to  a  counterblast.  With  abounding 
maternal  emotion,  but  with  grievous  poverty  of  lyrical 
impulse,  they  chanted  back  to  the  war  trumpets: 

I  did  not  raise  my  darling  boy  to  be  a  soldier; 

I  brought  him  up  to  be  my  pride  and  joy. 
I  will  not  let  him  wear  a  musket  on  his  shoulder, 

To  kill  some  other  mother's  darling  boy. 

So  sang  the  American  mothers  two  years  ago,  hugging 
their  darling  boys  to  their  bosoms.  But  He  that  had 


I 


Popular  Education  137 

the  steerage  of  their  course,  caught  them  in  His  fist, 
blew  His  strong  breath,  and  filled  their  sails,  and 
wafted  them  to  France,  there  to  fulfil  the  destiny  that 
He,  and  not  their  mothers,  had  chosen  for  them.  Nor 
will  any  American  mother  whose  son  is  gathered 
amongst  the  first  fruits  of  her  country's  valour,  in  that 
richest  vintage  those  vineyards  have  ever  known,  es- 
teem him  any  the  less  her  pride  and  joy,  because  he 
found  in  the  valley  of  the  Marne  a  safer  and  more 
sacred  resting-place  than  in  her  arms. 

How  strangely  different  is  the  gigantic  part  which 
America  is  playing  in  this  stupendous  drama,  from 
the  very  modest  role  which  she  proposed  to  herself,  of 
witness  to  the  peace  treaty  in  the  last  act!  Yet  there 
were  voices  that  called  upon  her  to  prepare  for  some 
such  destiny,  and  warned  her  that  not  in  vowed  se- 
clusion from  the  enmities  and  conflicts  of  mankind,  does 
a  nation  find  either  material  security  or  spiritual  ad- 
vancement. 

For  the  past  century,  Americans  have  had  a  huge 
fertile  continent  with  boundless  undeveloped  resources. 
And  all  through  this  century,  science  and  mechanical 
inventions  have  enormously  eased  and  smoothed  the 
conditions  of  living.  Americans  have  never  been  crowd- 
ed into  narrow  spaces  with  greedy  competitors.  They 
have  never  needed  to  covet  territory  from  their  neigh- 
bours, because  they  have  always  had  more  of  their 
own  than  they  could  occupy.  Never  has  a  nation  lived 
for  so  long  a  time  in  circumstances  so  favourable  to 
peace,  so  little  provocative  to  war.  Is  it  any  wonder 
then,  that  with  little  actual  experience  of  war,  with 
continued  prosperity,  and  with  wide  spaces  of  elbow- 
room  giving  all  their  national  energies  free  scope, 
Americans  confirmed  themselves  in  the  notion  that 


138  Patriotism  and 

peace  is  the  natural  perennial  condition  of  mankind, 
and  that  all  that  is  necessary  to  abolish  war  from  the 
planet,  is  that  men  should  get  sensible  ideas  on  the  sub- 
ject. To  the  same  long  lack  of  actual  experience  of  war 
on  our  own  soil,  may  be  traced  the  rankest  growths 
of  pacifism  in  England. 

In  all  the  past,  no  nation  has  gained  any  enviable  or 
conspicuous  place  on  the  earth's  surface,  and  established 
itself  in  some  sort  of  security,  except  by  means  of  war. 
JSTo  nation  has  risen  to  influence  and  power,  or  to  any 
high  degree  of  civilization,  without  conquering  some 
of  its  neighbours,  and  absorbing  them  in  its  own  popu- 
lation. Nations  have  not  improved  their  material  and 
spiritual  conditions,  and  advanced  in  the  arts  of  life, 
by  merely  remaining  within  their  own  borders  and 
multiplying  amongst  themselves.  It  is  true  that  they 
have  grown  and  progressed  in  the  intervals  of  peace, 
but  it  has  been  by  means  of  the  already  accomplished 
subjection  of  other  races,  whom  they  have  compelled 
to  mingle  and  multiply  with  them,  and  make  one  com- 
posite people.  When  a  nation  has  stayed  within  its 
own  borders  and  merely  multiplied,  it  has  not  advanced 
in  civilization.  It  has  settled  down  to  intellectual  and 
spiritual  stagnancy  and  decrepitude,  as  in  China. 

By  a  lucky  accident,  that  will  never  happen  again 
to  any  people,  Americans  tumbled  into  the  inheritance 
of  a  vast,  unclaimed  continent,  where  every  condition 
seemed  favourable  for  perpetual  peace.  But  before  they 
could  be  masters  in  it,  they  had  to  fight  England;  be- 
fore they  could  possess  it,  they  had  to  subjugate  and 
wellnigh  exterminate  the  Indians;  before  they  could 
establish  themselves  as  a  great  power,  free  to  work  out 
their  own  ideals,  they  had  to  wage  a  long  and  bitter 
war  amongst  themselves.  And  to-day,  America,  the 


I 


Popular  Education  139 

home  and  dedicated  sanctuary  of  peace,  is  one  huge 
workshop  of  war,  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  her  continent.  Her  armies  and  navies  have  become 
the  pivots  of  our  defence,  and  the  guardians  of  Euro- 
pean civilization.  Against  her  most  steadfast  purpose 
declared  for  generations,  against  all  her  power  of  self- 
determination,  has  this  change  been  wrought. 

What  more  teasing,  fascinating  employment  can 'im- 
agination find  than  to  guess  what  new  astounding  part 
America  may  play  amongst  the  nations,  when  they 
gather  themselves  after  this  war,  broken  and  tattered 
and  beggared,  and  begin  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a 
new  civilization  on  this  wreckage  of  the  old  world? 
How  often  in  past  years  have  I  watched  and  wondered, 
and  sometimes  shuddered  a  little,  at  that  vast  uncouth 
fabric  of  mechanical  and  material  prosperity,  raising 
itself  towards  heaven  by  means  of  forty-storied  sky- 
scrapers that  dwarf  into  contempt  the  less  conspicuous 
and  less  consecrated  spires  of  one  or  two  churches  cow- 
ering in  mean  obscurity  beneath  them ! 

If  the  war  will  work  surprising  changes  in  Euro- 
pean civilization,  will  it  not  work  even  more  surpris- 
ing changes  in  the  younger  and  more  plastic  civilization 
of  America?  Will  it  not  break  many  of  the  ordinary 
moulds  of  American  thought,  give  the  nation  new  meas- 
ures of  spiritual  values,  and  set  its  face  towards  a  new 
spiritual  horizon?  The  impetus  of  magnanimous  en- 
deavour and  generous  sacrifice  in  this  conflict,  will  not 
cease  when  that  conflict  ends,  but  will  carry  America 
into  the  forefront  of  all  great  world  movements  from 
this  time  onwards.  She  has  been  finally  called  to  a 
destiny  quite  other  than  that  she  had  chosen  for  herself. 
Will  not  her  future  destiny  be  as  strangely  unlike,  as 
widely  away  from  what  her  statesmen  announce  and 


140  Patriotism  and 

design  for  Her  to-day,  as  her  present  destiny  is  strangely 
unlike  and  widely  away  from  the  peaceful  isolation 
that  her  statesmen  announced  and  designed  for  her  a 
few  years  ago  ?  Answer,  prophetic  soul  of  the  wide 
world  dreaming  on  things  to  come! 

When  all  this  litter  of  fire  and  death  is  cleared 
away,  will  America  again  refurnish  her  home  through- 
out as  the  sanctuary  of  perpetual  peace,  and  persuade 
all  the  other  nations  to  do  likewise  ?  The  nations  will 
need  but  little  persuasion.  Amidst  their  smoking  ruins, 
they  will  eagerly  put  faith  in  any  scheme  that  promises 
to  insure  them  against  a  future  conflagration.  Doubt- 
less, for  a  long  immediate  future,  no  nation  will  be 
foolish  enough  to  carry  a  lighted  torch  amongst  the 
ever-smouldering  passions  and  jealousies  and  ambi- 
tions of  its  neighbours. 

But  if  we  examine  the  arguments  in  favour  of  a 
League  of  Nations,  we  find  that  its  advocates  for  the 
most  part  ignore  all  the  difficulties  of  constituting  it, 
and  the  yet  greater  and  ever-increasing  difficulties  of 
working  it.  If  they  admit  these  difficulties,  they  offer 
no  solution  of  them,  and  are  content  with  some  vague 
hope  or  assertion  that  they  may  or  will  be  overcome. 
The  sole  reason  that  they  give  for  forming  their  League 
is  that  it  is  eminently  desirable.  So  desirable  does  it 
seem  to  them  that,  by  hook  or  by  crook,  it  must  be 
made  practicable.  And  the  sole  security  that  they  can 
offer  for  its  lengthened  success  is  their  opinion  that  the 
rivalries,  ambitions,  and  enmities  of  all  the  peoples  and 
races — those  combative  instincts  and  passions  of  man- 
kind which,  in  all  times  past,  have  been  the  catabolic 
forces  in  the  world's  economy,  and  which  are  now  in 
a  period  of  great  activity — will,  as  soon  as  this  war  is 
over,  die  down,  and  be  absorbed  in  an  amiable  inter- 


Popular  Education  141 

nationalism.  That  is  to  say,  that  the  governing  proc- 
esses of  civilization  will,  in  the  future,  he  merely  an- 
aholic. 

We  are  evidently  being  swept  towards  a  new  form  of 
civilization.  What  that  civilization  may  he  like  in  its 
main  moral  and  spiritual  aspects,  I  do  not  pretend  to 
know.  None  of  the  many  vanished  civilizations  that 
have  flourished  on  this  planet,  has  taken  its  general 
form  from  a  design  previously  worked  out  hy  the  hrain 
of  man.  Speaking  hroadly,  they  have  arisen,  as  it 
were,  spontaneously,  haphazardly.  The  rushing,  clash- 
ing, many-coloured,  many-shaped  interests  and  aims  of 
neighbouring  nations  have  been  shaken  up  in  the  ka- 
leidoscope, and  a  certain  pattern  of  civilization  has  re- 
sulted. In  all  of  these  transformations,  the  desire  or 
necessity  of  conquest  by  one  or  several  of  the  nations, 
has  been  the  leading  conspicuous  source  of  movement. 
The  conscious  aims  and  strivings  of  the  nations  have 
helped  to  form  the  pattern  of  civilization,  but  that  pat- 
tern, as  a  whole,  has  been  something  quite  different 
from  what  any  statesman  has  planned,  or  any  philoso- 
pher has  prescribed. 

Nor  will  the  civilization  of  the  future  be  fashioned 
according  to  any  of  the  designs  which  we  are  now  sub- 
mitting to  the  Eternal,  as  being  what  is  obviously  most 
desirable  for  mankind  at  the  present  juncture.  Great- 
ly as  we  are  concerned,  we  shall  not  be  taken  into  His 
counsels  on  the  matter,  nor  will  He  give  heed  to  our 
valuable  hints  and  suggestions.  I  care  not  much  at  any 
time  whether  I  use  the  symbols  of  religion  or  the  terms 
of  science.  The  symbols  of  religion  are  often  less  la- 
boriously inaccurate  than  the  strict  definitions  of  sci- 
ence, and  throw  larger,  bolder  shadows  of  incommen- 
surable truths. 


142  Patriotism  and 

Having  probably  made  some  slight  advance  upwards 
from  monkeyhood  in  the  course  of  the  present  civiliza- 
tion, and  having  assuredly  gained  an  ever-increasing 
command  of  natural  forces,  we  shall  doubtless  be  al- 
lowed a  greater  apparent  liberty  of  action  within  the 
confines  of  the  approaching  civilization.  Being  able 
to  read  a  little  further  in  Nature's  infinite  book  of  se- 
crecy, we  shall  develop  a  larger  measure  of  our  old  illu- 
sion that  we  are  part  authors  of  it.  But  the  framework 
and  design  of  that  future  civilization  will  be  none  of  our 
choosing.  They  will  be  imposed  upon  us,  and  will  be 
largely  unforeseen  by  us. 

That  future  civilization  will  probably  be,  in  many  re- 
spects, a  higher  civilization  than  any  the  world  has  yet 
known.  But  this  is  by  no  means  certain.  At  the  pres- 
ent moment  it  promises  to  be  a  harder,  drabber,  more 
material,  less  spiritual  civilization ;  less  rich  in  beauty ; 
robbed  of  many  of  the  graces  and  charms  of  the  past; 
robbed  of  leisure  and  distinction  and  ornament;  a  civi- 
lization where  the  artist  will  be  murdered  by  the  me- 
chanic. This  may  be  only  a  transitory  threat,  but  un- 
less we  take  care,  we  shall  make  this  world  a  very  dull 
place  to  live  in.  Who  would  not  rather  live  in  the  Lon- 
don of  Dickens  than  in  one  of  the  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  model  houses  which  the  Government  is 
proposing  to  build — that  is,  if  the  new  Education  Act 
can  release  a  sufficient  number  of  stout  young  masons 
and  carpenters  from  the  urgent  necessity  of  learning 
all  about  Cicero. 

To  return.  Whatever  form  and  complexion  the  ap- 
proaching civilization  may  take,  we  may  be  quite  sure 
that  we  shall  soon  find  it  to  be  something  quite  differ- 
ent in  many  of  its  larger  aspects  and  tendencies,  from 
anything  that  we  may  now  consciously  design,  or  ami- 


Popular  Education  143 

ably  desire.  At  present,  under  the  stress  of  the  illimi- 
table miseries  and  horrors  of  this  war,  we  design  to 
mould  our  future  civilization  on  a  basis  of  perpetual 
universal  concord  guaranteed  by  a  League  of  Nations. 
It  is  assumed  that  by  this  compact  wars  can  be  made  to 
cease,  and  that  this  condition  of  things  will  be  static, 
and  will  be  unassailable  by  all  the  imperious  wash  and 
sway  and  flux  of  human  affairs  outside. 

It  is  clear  that  if  our  future  civilization  is  to  be 
founded  on  this  basis,  it  can  have  no  permanence  and 
can  give  us  no  security  and  prosperity,  unless  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  wars  do  cease  from  this  time. 

There  are  four  general  states  of  world  civilization, 
either  of  which  is  possible,  and  one  of  which  must 
be  realized,  during  that  period  of  the  future  which  we 
are  concerned  to  anticipate,  and  to  prepare  for,  by  shap- 
ing our  national  policy  in  accordance  with  it. 

(1)  A  state  of  world-civilization  in  which  war  is 
wholly  abolished  from  this  time. 

(2)  A    state    of    world-civilization    in    which    war 
arises  over  small  areas,  with  diminishing  frequency, 
and  with  diminishing  violence,  until  at  no  distant  date 
it  dies  out  from  sheer  inanition,  because  the  passions 
and  instincts  of  mankind  that  formerly  provoked  it, 
have  also  died  out  in  the  meantime.     That  is  to  say, 
all  the  nations  will  not  only  have  resolved  to  be  wise  for 
all  of  the  time,  but  will  have  kept  their  resolution,  and 
will  have  veritably  and  demonstrably  attained  beati- 
tude in  this  respect. 

These  two  states  of  civilization  have  some  kinship, 
and  the  national  policy  and  general  legislation  that  will 
be  suitable  to  one  of  them,  will  in  some  measure  be 
suitable  to  the  other. 

(3)  A  state  of  world-civilization  in  which  war  arises, 


144  Patriotism  and 

with  diminishing  frequency,  but  over  large  areas,  and 
with  increasing  violence,  owing  to  the  long  restraint 
and  suppression  of  those  fundamental  instincts  and 
passions  of  mankind  which  provoke  it,  and  the  con- 
sequent accumulation  of  inflammable  materials,  both 
in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  in  their  political  and  eco- 
nomical surroundings. 

(4)  A  state  of  world-civilization,  which,  however 
different  it  may  be  in  its  outer  garb  and  manifestations 
from  our  present  and  all  preceding  civilizations,  is  yet 
virtually  the  same  in  respect  of  its  fairly  constant  al- 
ternations of  peace  and  war,  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
fundamental  instincts  and  passions  of  mankind  have 
not  changed,  but  continue  to  find  the  same  outlet  that 
they  have  found  in  all  the  past  experience  of  our  race. 
These  two  latter  states  of  civilization  are  nearly  akin, 
and  are  scarcely  distinguishable  from  each  other.  The 
national  policy  and  general  legislation  that  will  be 
suitable  to  one  of  them  will  be  mainly  suitable  to  the 
other. 

Except  these  four,  no  general  state  of  world  civili- 
zation is  possible,  or  even  conceivable.  One  of  these 
four  states  must  issue  from  our  present  situation.  To 
meet  the  demands  and  exigencies  of  one  of  these  four 
general  states,  the  statesmen  of  each  of  the  nations 
must  begin  to  shape  their  foreign  policy  as  soon  as 
this  war  is  ended.  Which  of  these  four  states  is  most 
likely  to  issue  from  our  existing  circumstances  ? 

Judging  from  all  past  history,  and  from  the  instincts 
and  passions  of  mankind  as  they  are  at  this  moment 
displaying  themselves,  does  it  not  seem  improbable  in 
the  highest  degree  that  the  first  of  these  states  of  world 
civilization  will  be  realized?  Is  it  not  almost  as  im- 


Popular  Education  145 

probable  that  the  second  of  these  states  will  be  realized 
in  any  period  of  time  that  concerns  us  ? 

But,  putting  aside  all  estimates  of  the  future  that 
are  founded  upon  experience  of  the  past,  and  upon 
our  knowledge  of  human  nature,  let  us  ask  what  will 
be  the  actual  condition  of  the  world's  affairs  after  the 
war.  The  merest  glance  shows  us  that  the  whole  sur- 
face of  the  planet  will  be  littered  with  combustible 
matter.  Apart  altogether  from  the  war,  all  the  world's 
social  forces  are  in  disorder.  Capital  and  labour,  na- 
tional and  international  finance,  economic  systems  and 
tariffs,  the  relation  of  the  sexes,  the  allotment  and  ex- 
ercise of  political  power,  the  authority  of  religion,  the 
status  of  the  coloured  races — every  one  of  these  world 
social  forces  is  in  a  state  of  treacherous  and  perilous 
inflammability.  Every  one  of  them  is  a  possible  cause 
of  war,  or  a  possible  auxiliary  cause  of  war;  one  or 
two  of  them  have  provoked  wars  in  the  past,  and  seem 
likely  to  cause  more  or  less  bloodshed  in  the  future. 
Before  a  peaceful  path  can  be  assured  for  world  civi- 
lization, every  one  of  them  must  be  adjusted  and  con- 
trolled, and  brought  to  some  sort  of  an  agreement.  Is 
it  likely  that  all  these  vexed  questions  will  be  perma- 
nently settled  by  referring  them  to  national  and  inter- 
national committees  ?'  All  otherwise  to  me  my  thoughts 
portend. 

If  we  will  but  forsake  our  whimsies,  and  look  stead- 
ily at  the  facts  that  are  before  our  eyes,  do  they  offer 
us  any  security  that  from  this  time,  or  within  any 
measurable  stretch  of  the  future,  the  first  or  second 
states  of  general  world-civilization  will  be  realized,  and 
that  war  will  be  finally  abolished  from  the  earth  ?  Does 
not  a  survey  of  the  main  facts  and  tendencies,  and  of 


146  Patriotism  and 

the  social  conditions  prevailing  in  every  country,  press 
upon  us  the  same  conclusion  that  has  been  forced  upon 
us  by  our  experience  of  all  the  past,  and  by  our  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature  as  it  has  always  manifested  itself, 
and  as  it  is  manifesting  itself  to-day? 

If  he  would  be  a  bold  and  foolish  man  who  should 
affirm  that  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  wars  to  cease 
from  this  time,  unlikely  and  incredible  as  that  seems, 
how  crazy  beyond  all  dreamers  in  Bedlam,  would  that 
man  be  who,  with  all  these  facts  and  considerations 
before  him,  should  affirm  that  war  will  never  again 
break  out  upon  this  planet !  Is  it  not  enormously  prob- 
able that,  however  much  we  may  be  able  to  guide  the 
shape  of  that  world  civilization  which  we  are  approach- 
ing, it  will  be  some  form  of  either  the  third  or  the 
fourth  of  those  that  I  have  enumerated ;  that  is  to  say, 
it  will  be  one  in  which  war  will  be  liable  to  break  out  at 
any  time,  and  will  be  sure  to  break  out  at  some  time  or 
the  other  ? 

A  great  weight  of  public  opinion  is  demanding  that 
our  national  policy  shall  be  shaped  upon  the  assumption 
that  the  future  world-civilization  will  be  either  the  first 
or  the  second  of  the  states  I  have  enumerated,  and  that 
war  will  be  entirely  abolished  either  from  this  time,  or 
within  some  easily  measurable  compass  of  years. 

And  the  permanency  of  this  wholly  pacific  state  of 
world-civilization  is  to  be  assured  by  the  contrivances 
and  decrees  of  a  League  of  Nations.  We  have  no  ex- 
perience of  the  working  of  such  a  tribunal,  except  such 
as  we  may  have  gained  from  the  disastrous  failure  of 
the  Hague  Conference  to  prevent  this  war,  and  from 
the  ominous  fact  that  it  tied  our  hands  and  tripped  our 
feet  in  the  early  stages  of  the  conflict  All  the  pro- 
moters of  a  League  of  Nations  allow  that  its  constitu- 


Popular  Education  147 

tion  is  beset  with  enormous  difficulties,  and  none  of 
them  can  offer  us  any  better  assurance  for  its  success- 
ful working  than  what  is  afforded  by  the  hope  of  con- 
stant international  amiability  and  wisdom.  Will  it  be 
safe,  will  it  be  prudent,  to  hang  the  whole  weight  of  our 
great  destiny  on  the  slender  thread  of  security  that  a 
League  of  Nations  will  be  able  to  prevent  war  in  the 
future  ?  This  is  what  we  are  asked  to  do  by  a  powerful 
and  gathering  force  of  public  opinion. 

If  we  are  not  again  to  drift  aimlessly  on  confused  and 
contrary  tides  of  events,  making  risky  accommodations 
and  compromises  with  inexorable  forces;  if  we  are  not 
again  to  put  our  trust  in  chance  to  pull  us  through,  we 
are  called  upon  this  day  to  shape  and  declare  a  firm, 
clear,  national  policy,  either  in  accordance  with  the 
belief  that  war  will  be  extinct  or  negligible  in  the  future 
world-civilization,  or  on  the  other  hand  in  the  belief 
war  will  be  liable  to  recur  with  something  of  the  same 
frequency  and  violence  in  the  future  as  it  has  done  in 
the  past.  If  we  shape  our  national  policy  in  accord- 
ance with  the  former  of  these  alternative  beliefs,  that 
policy  will  tend  towards  an  Internationalism  which  will 
gradually  break  down  the  highly  complicated  structure 
of  laws,  habits,  customs,  institutions,  and  common  na- 
tional interests  that  now  holds  us  together  in  unity,  as 
a  living  social  organism  amongst  other  social  organisms. 
If  we  shape  our  national  policy  in  accordance  with  the 
latter  of  these  alternative  beliefs,  that  policy  will  tend 
towards  a  Patriotism  which  will  harden  and  confirm 
and  strengthen  our  highly  complicated  structure  of  laws, 
habits,  customs,  institutions,  and  common  national  in- 
terests, and  will  render  it  capable  of  further  growth 
and  development.  E"o  clear,  resolute,  effective  national 
policy  can  be  imagined  unless  it  accepts,  and  acts  upon, 


148  Patriotism  and  Education 

one  or  the  other  of  these  alternative  beliefs,  and  is 
shaped  and  pursued  towards  one  or  the  other  of  these 
alternative  ends. 

After  much  groping  and  wandering  in  tangled  ways, 
with  the  hope  of  finding  and  beating  a  plain  sure  path 
for  coming  footsteps  to  tread,  we  emerge  from  our  ob- 
scurities and  perplexities,  and  stand  in  clear  open 
ground  on  the  top  of  the  hill.  There,  plain  in  front  of 
us,  are  the  two  signposts,  bearing  their  inscriptions  in 
the  largest,  boldest  letters,  so  that  every  wayfarer  may 
read.  They  point  and  urge  our  nation  in  opposite  di- 
rections. On  the  one  is  written,  "To  Internationalism." 
On  the  other  is  written  "To  Patriotism." 


CHAPTEE  V 

(Sept.— Oat.— Nov.  1918) 
PATRIOTISM  AND  INTERNATIONALISM 


Apology  to  the  Minister  of  Education  for  continuing  to  address 
him — The  neglected  Hampstead  missionary — Aims  of  Interna- 
tionalism before  the  war — No  danger  of  war — The  good  Scheide- 
mann  would  prevent  it — The  Great  Illusionist — The  meddling  old 
warrior — Our  sagacious  internuncio — Crash!  The  war  comes — 
What  shall  we  do  with  our  opinions  now? — Socialists'  forecasts 
falsified — They  forsake  their  comrades  and  their  whimsies  to  de- 
fend their  country — Patriotism,  a  compulsive  universal  instinct 
— Compared  with  the  maternal  and  religious  instincts — Incip- 
ient Patriotism  at  East  and  West  Gawkham — Engrafted  Pa- 
triotism— "Reconstruction"  a  misleading  term — Nations  cannot 
be  "reconstructed" — Internationalists  ignore  this — The  parable 
of  the  old  township  and  Mr.  Fervent  Impossiblist — The  general 
aim  and  design  of  Internationalists  and  Socialists — Who  are  the 
real  enemies  of  the  working  classes  of  each  nation? — Interna- 
tionalism strikes  athwart  all  social  structure — Internationalists 
and  Bolshevism — Mr.  H.  G.  Wells  gets  a  grip  on  Bolshevism 
and  interprets  it  to  us — Mr.  Wells  gets  a  grip  on  the  situation 
in  Russia — Mr.  Wells  gets  a  grip  on  the  situation  in  Africa — 
Mr.  Wells,  like  Sangrado,  has  a  panacea — Mr.  Wells  allows  the 
British  flag  to  wave  and  sometimes  to  flap — Examination  of  Mr. 
Wells'  African  constitution — Mr.  Wells  threatens  the  Solomon. 
Islands — Mr.  Wells  prophesies  delightfully  about  machines — Goes 
on  to  prophesy  about  mankind — Defence  of  Mr.  Wells  against  Mr. 
Archibald  Spofforth — Mr.  Wells  and  Old  Moore — Gorgeous  sym- 
bolism in  prophecy — Scarlet  ladies  of  Babylon  and  seven-headed 
beasts — The  sacred  jigsaw  puzzle — Common  defects  and  fallacies 
of  Internationalist  schemes — Alternations  of  commercial  con- 
flict and  actual  war — Commercial  conflict  perhaps  the  more 
deadly — Our  interest  in  sustaining  the  British  Empire — Our  For- 
eign Office  "bunglers  and  bluffers" —Where  are  the  perfectly  wise 
Statesmen  to  work  these  perfectly  wise  International  schemes t — 

149 


150  Patriotism  and 

Tendency  of  Labour  to  displace  its  constructive  leaders — Who  are 
the  men  that  finally  come  to  the  top? — Appeal  to  Labour  not 
to  wreck  and  destroy  the  Empire  that  it  has  saved  and  forti- 
fied— New  nations  will  be  increasingly  patriotic — Will  press  their 
own  separate  aims,  interests,  and  ambitions — Watered-down  In- 
ternationalism— Dulce  et  decorum  est  contra  patriam  wort — 
Sympathy  with  constructive  Socialism — Greater  proportion  of 
physically  unfit  in  England  than  in  Germany  or  France — Our 
social  incubator  for  hatching  and  cherishing  wastrels — Digres- 
sion to  Miss  Marie  Corelli  and  Cicero — Return  to  argument  on 
Patriotism — Again  the  two  signposts — Clear  thinkers  who  think 
wrongly — Internationalism  always  destructive,  Patriotism  al- 
ways constructive — Proposal  for  amalgamation  of  our  planetary 
system  with  that  of  Sirius — The  Interstellarists — Instinct  of 
Patriotism  universal — Our  Pacifists  superabundantly  endowed 
with  it — Pacifism  and  Internationalism  perversions  of  the  in- 
stinct of  Patriotism — Patriotism  and  fire  insurance—Renewed 
fruitless  appeal  to  Minister  of  Education — Elementary  drilling  of 
our  boys  the  safest  and  cheapest  way  to  reduce  our  armaments — 
Also  best  physical  and  moral  training  for  the  boys  themselves — 
A  glance  at  the  National  Debt  and  at  the  little  cherub  who  sits 
up  aloft. 


HAVE  strayed  so  far  from  my  original  intention 
•*•  in  writing  this  letter  to  you,  and  have  treated  of 
so  many  matters  that  are  outside  your  immediate  con- 
cern and  jurisdiction,  that  I  feel  some  apology  is  due 
to  you,  sir,  for  continuing  to  address  you.  The  only 
excuse  I  can  offer  to  myself,  is  that  your  position  is 
merely  an  honorary  one,  and  that,  as  I  reminded  you 
at  the  start,  you  are  not  under  the  least  obligation  to 
pay  any  attention  to  me.  But  I  have  an  uneasy  sus- 
picion that,  unless  I  can  detain  you  as  an  imaginary 
nearer,  I  shall  he  left  entirely  without  an  audience. 
This  is  what  has  happened  to  me  in  respect  of  what  I 
have  written  about  the  English  drama.  For  thirty-five 
years  I  have  begged  my  countrymen  to  take  an  intel- 
ligent interest  in  their  theatre,  to  make  it  a  place  of 
wise  amusement  instead  of  a  child's  toyshop  and  the 


Popular  Education  151 

playground  of  licentious  tomfoolery.  I  cannot  flatter 
myself  that  they  have  paid  the  least  attention  to  what 
I  have  said,  for  to-day  the  English  theatre  and  the  Eng- 
lish drama  are — as  I  have  described  them  in  the  earlier 
part  of  this  letter.  Nor  can  I  hope  to  be  more  success- 
ful in  reaching  their  ears,  now  that  I  am  treating  of 
matters  of  such  supreme  importance  that  the  lasting 
welfare  and  safety  of  this  empire  depend  upon  our 
clearly  understanding  and  rightly  managing  them. 

On  Sunday  mornings  before  the  war,  sauntering 
throngs  were  wont  to  frequent  the  open  space  near  the 
pond  at  the  top  of  Hampstead  Heath,  there  to  fill  their 
lungs  with  fresh  air,  and  their  minds  with  alfresco 
political  convictions.  Seven  large  crowds  were  usually 
gathered  round  seven  loud-voiced  orators  of  both  sexes, 
who  were  bawling  out  seven  varied  and  conflicting  kinds 
of  turbulent  social  doctrine.  Hard  by,  was  a  gentle, 
soft-voiced  evangelist,  with  a  modest  unassuming  mien, 
in  whom  I  detected  a  strong  resemblance  to  myself.  He 
was  reading  quietly  and  unobtrusively  from  the  Bible, 
and  wisely  refraining  from  making  any  comment  of  his 
own.  On  many  Sunday  mornings  in  those  ancient 
times,  I  passed  by  this  meek,  unpretentious  teacher,  and 
never  once  found  him  with  so  much  as  a  single,  casual, 
heedless  listener.  This  discouraged  him  not  a  jot.  Con- 
vinced of  the  value  and  importance  of  his  message,  he 
persistently  read  on.  With  your  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience of  the  level  to  which  Popular  Education  has 
raised  the  literary  tastes  of  the  masses,  you  will  easily 
understand,  sir,  that  while  the  loud  crude  jargon  of  the 
social  pulpiteers  drew  large  approving  groups  of  hear- 
ers, the  finest  passages  of  St.  Paul  and  Isaiah  could  not 
catch  the  momentary  attention  of  one  passing  idler. 

As  the  Sunday  mornings  went  by  without  bringing 


152  Patriotism  and 

him  a  solitary  adherent,  I  became  more  and  more  inter- 
ested in  this  sheepless  shepherd.  I  found  myself  hop- 
ing, that  by  a  lucky  chance,  or  even  by  a  special  inter- 
vention of  Providence  in  so  good  a  cause,  he  would  one 
day  be  rewarded  by  the  notice  of  some  stray  lounger  or 
inquisitive  urchin,  or  by  gaining  the  ear  of  the  police- 
man on  parade,  whose  public  duty  might  well  allow  him 
an  occasional  digression  into  spiritual  affairs  on  a  Sun- 
day morning.  Vainly  did  I  wait  for  even  so  small  a 
measure  of  popular  recognition  for  this  neglected  dis- 
penser of  weighty  truths  and  heavenly  wisdom.  The 
floating,  chattering  Sunday  throngs  went  heedlessly  by 
him,  and  he  never  detached  a  single  hearer  from  the 
adjacent  expounders  of  variegated  social  and  political 
philosophy.  Still  he  read  on,  impregnably  indifferent 
to  the  impregnable  indifference  of  the  crowd. 

I  felt  a  growing  sympathy  with  this  rejected  little 
missionary.  The  decay  of  a  living  credible  religion  in 
England  had  placed  him  in  even  more  forlorn  circum- 
stances than  the  decay  of  a  living  credible  drama  had 
placed  myself.  And  his  response  to  the  neglect  of  the 
public  was  the  same  as  my  own — an  unwearied  reitera- 
tion of  the  truth  to  unheeding  ears.  I  had  the  same 
lively  compassion  for  him  that  I  had  for  myself.  My 
fellow  feeling  moved  me  to  lend  him  some  countenance. 
I  would  occasionally  loiter  for  a  few  minutes  to  become 
the  solitary  recipient  of  his  ministrations,  thus  giving 
him,  I  hope,  some  faint  impression  of  having  an  audi- 
ence. 

I  must  admit  that  his  elocution  was  deplorably  bad, 
being  scarcely  above  the  level  of  what  is  usually  heard 
in  fashionable  West  End  theatres.  But  if  his  manner 
was  deficient,  his  matter  was  excellent.  He  would 
choose,  first  perhaps  a  chapter  from  Romans,  and  with- 


Popular  Education  153 

out  any  personal  exposition  of  its  theology,  pass  to  one 
of  the  Psalms,  and  then  to  the  leaping  ecstasies  of  the 
second  Isaiah,  or  to  the  golden  and  jewelled  precepts  of 
Proverbs,  or  the  dark  wonder  wisdom  of  Job.  The 
mellow  cadences  of  the  dead  prophets  and  dreamers  who 
for  centuries  have  shown  mankind  the  way  of  life, 
sounded  strangely  out  of  tune  with  the  loud  harsh  clap- 
per notes  of  the  noisy  new  prophets,  who  were  dinning 
quite  other  kinds  of  doctrine  into  the  ears  of  the  crowds 
across  the  green.  A  cannon,  with  its  surrounding  piles 
of  shrapnel,  has  displaced  the  pulpits  of  the  strident  so- 
cial orators,  and  spouting  forth  more  convincing  mat- 
ter, has,  for  the  time,  dispersed  their  doctrines. 

I  hope,  sir,  you  will  be  so  obliging  as  to  lend  me  your 
countenance  for  a  little  while  longer,  and  allow  me  the 
comforting  illusion  of  having  an  audience.  I  cannot 
pretend  that  what  I  am  offering  you,  has  the  value  and 
authority  of  the  lofty  messages  which  my  fellow  mis- 
sionary punctually  delivered  every  Sunday  morning  to 
his  imaginary  hearers.  I  fear,  too,  that  my  words  may 
be  as  ill  adapted  to  your  frame  of  mind,  as  the  admoni- 
tions of  Solomon  were  to  the  tastes  of  the  Sunday 
crowds ;  and  that  you  may  show  yourself  as  indifferent 
to  conversion  as  the  Hampstead  policeman.  But  having, 
like  my  despised  evangelist,  succeeded  in  persuading 
myself  of  the  importance  of  my  utterances,  I  trust  you 
will  be  generous  enough  to  accord  me  the  continued 
privilege  of  addressing  them  to  you. 

This  need  not  be  any  tax  upon  your  time  or  your  pa- 
tience. I  do  not  expect  you  to  pay  any  more  attention 
to  what  I  am  now  saying,  than  you  have  paid  to  what 
I  said  in  the  earlier  parts  of  my  letter.  For  by  the 
passing  of  your  Education  Bill,  I  notice  that  our  young 
carpenters,  from  sixteen  to  eighteen,  are  still  to  be  oc- 


154  Patriotism 

cupied  with  Cicero  and  algebra,  rather  than  in  making 
convenient  doors  and  windows  for  their  fellow  work- 
men ;  and  that  our  crowds  of  theatre-goers  are  not  to  be 
diverted  from  their  preference  for  vulgar  nonsense,  by 
any  such  guidance  towards  a  love  and  appreciation  of 
Shakespeare  as  you  might  have  given  them,  by  afford- 
ing opportunities  for  suitable  education  to  our  young 
actors  and  actresses. 

In  these  circumstances,  I  may  reaffirm  the  wholly 
formal  and  honorary  nature  of  your  position  at  the  head 
of  this  letter — a  position  which  is  not  less  dignified  than 
that  of  the  British  Lion  in  the  Royal  Arms  on  a  shop- 
front,  and  which  does  not  require  its  occupant  to  con- 
cern himself  with  the  transactions  taking  ]>lace  inside 
the  shop,  or  to  be  responsible  for  the  quality  of  the 
wares  displayed.  Nothing  more  is  required  of  him, 
than  to  preserve  a  correct  attitude  of  obvious  and  lofty 
detachment  from  the  proceedings. 

With  this  disclaimer  of  any  intention  to  waste  your 
time,  or  capture  your  approbation,  I  station  myself 
again  at  the  cross  roads  where  the  two  opposing  sign- 
posts stand,  the  one  pointing  our  people  to  Internation- 
alism, the  other  to  Patriotism. 

Before  the  war,  there  was  in  all  countries  an  ever- 
increasing  number  of  men  who  persuaded  themselves 
that  the  rivalries  and  enmities  and  conflicting  interests 
of  the  nations,  might  be  smoothed  and  finally  submerged 
in  a  general  amiable  Internationalism,  by  the  declared 
wills  of  all  the  peoples.  It  was  so  obvious  that  the 
working  classes  of  all  countries  had  more  to  gain  by 
seizing  and  dividing  the  large  stock  of  accumulated  cap- 
ital in  the  world,  than  by  fighting  amongst  themselves 
to  destroy  it,  that  nothing  more  was  needed  to  start 
them  on  this  track,  than  to  point  out  to  them  the  gay 


Popular  Education  155 

garden  paradise  awaiting  their  occupation  at  the  end  of 
it.  Accordingly,  Internationalism  flourished  exceed- 
ingly before  the  war.  Large  masses  of  our  own  people 
transferred  the  loyalty  and  allegiance  they  had  instinc- 
tively felt  for  the  country  of  their  birth,  to  that  much 
more  admirably-managed  International  State,  where 
everybody  would  have  his  Rights,  where  equal  posses- 
sions and  boundless  plenty  would  be  assured  to  all,  and 
where  Justice,  Truth,  Liberty,  and  Peace  would  reign 
perpetually.  What  temptation  had  anyone  to  remain 
an  Englishman,  when,  by  merely  skipping  over  a  few 
inconvenient  obstructive  facts,  he  could  become  the 
citizen  of  such  a  country  ? 

Seeing  that  it  was  eminently  desirable  that  this  Inter- 
national State  should  be  established  without  bloodshed, 
it  was  decided  that  no  war  should  take  place.  One  or 
two  kings  might  have  to  be  gently,  or  even  somewhat 
forcibly,  pushed  off  their  thrones,  if  they  declined  to 
dwindle  into  evanescence;  some  more  or  less  extensive 
civil  disturbances  and  riots  might  take  place,  and  a  few 
obstinate  people  who  refused  to  have  sensible  ideas, 
might  have  to  be  shot  down.  All  other  little  difficulties 
could  be  successfully  negotiated  as  we  went  along.  The 
desirability  of  this  International  State  being  so  obvious, 
all  that  we  had  to  do  was  to  keep  on  voting  for  it,  and 
it  would  gradually  come  into  being.  Certainly  there 
was  no  need  to  apprehend  any  outbreak  of  war  amongst 
the  nations,  for  the  sufficient  reason  that  this  would 
upset  all  our  plans.  And  having  arranged  for  rations 
of  universal  happiness  on  a  very  liberal  scale,  accord- 
ing to  indisputable  pet  formulas  of  our  own,  what  could 
be  more  annoying  than  to  have  all  our  plans  upset  by 
an  irrelevancy  like  war  ? 

It  was  true  that  Germany  was  throwing  millions 


156  Patriotism  and 

upoii  millions  of  men  into  her  army,  and  building  a  for- 
midable fleet.  What  of  that?  That  was  Germany's 
own  business.  Our  business  was  to  keep  down  our  army 
to  such  negligible  numbers  as  could  give  no  possible 
provocation  to  Germany.  By  this  means  we  should 
avoid  war,  and,  what  was  more  important,  prevent  our 
plans  from  being  upset. 

Besides,  was  not  the  good  Scheidemann  over  there, 
fast  locked  with  us,  not  in  the  loose  brotherhood  of 
blood,  but  in  that  fast  brotherhood  which  binds  together 
men  who  hold  the  same  opinions  upon  abstract  matters. 
It  is  written,  there  is  a  friend  that  sticketh  closer  than 
a  brother.  And  who  can  that  friend  be,  but  the  man 
who  holds  the  same  sensible  ideas  about  politics,  or  re- 
ligion, or  vaccination,  or  the  monistic  theory,  that  we 
ourselves  hold  ?  The  good  Scheidemann  and  his  nu- 
merous fellows  could  never  be  brought  to  fight  with 
actual  guns  and  swords,  the  dear  comrades  who,  side  by 
side  with  them,  were  fighting  and  conquering  the  rest 
of  the  world  with  words  and  theories.  ~No\  No!  If 
ever  the  day  should  come  when  the  good  Scheidemann 
and  our  comrades  over  there  were  commanded  to  plunge 
their  swords  in  our  breasts,  they  would  throw  them 
down  in  flat  defiance  and  fall  upon  our  necks,  and  bru- 
tal militarism  would  slink  away  baffled  and  defeated. 
That  anything  eise  could  happen  was  incredible,  for  it 
would  upset  all  our  plans.  Therefore  let  us  take  no 
notice  of  the  fact  that  Germany  is  arming  to  her  last 
man.  We  may  safely  leave  it  all  in  the  hands  of  the 
good  Scheidemann,  for  does  he  not  hold  the  same  opin- 
ions as  ourselves  ? 

And  most  opportunely  to  confirm  our  opinions  and  to 
further  our  plans,  a  writer  appears,  who,  by  lucid  and 
most  irrefragable  arguments,  proves  that  war  with  Ger- 

I 


I 


Popular  Education  157 

many  is  impossible,  prophetically  calling  his  book  "The 
Great  Illusion."  This  is  the  man  after  our  own  hearts. 
Here  is  one  endowed  even  more  than  ourselves  with 
political  vision  and  insight  keen  enough  to  pierce 
through  all  brick  walls  of  fact.  How  can  we  sufficiently 
honour  him?  What  will  be  his  most  appropriate  re- 
ward? We  will  make  him  a  life  member  of  the  Na- 
tional Liberal  Club.  What  less  can  we  do  for  the  man 
who  incontrovertibly  proves  that  war  with  Germany  is 
impossible,  than  to  give  him  the  perpetual  freedom  of 
those  marble  halls?  lor  how  can  we,  busy  as  we  are, 
shaping  the  future  according  to  our  plans,  be  expected 
to  know  that  by  some  little  flaw  in  his  arguments,  or  by 
some  little  failure  of  facts  to  adjust  themselves  to  our 
opinions,  a  war  with  Germany  will  come  crashing  down 
upon  us  in  a  few  months  ?  And,  alas !  one  of  the  direst 
consequences  of  that  war  will  be  that  the  Government 
will  seize  our  marble  halls  for  its  prosecution,  and  will 
drive  us  and  our  great  illusionist  to  find  shelter  else- 
where. 

Meantime,  what  is  to  be  done  with  the  doting  old 
alarmist,  who  would  upset  all  our  plans  by  telling  the 
country  from  his  certain  knowledge  and  ripe  experi- 
ence, that  this  war  with  Germany  is  imminent,  inevita- 
ble, and  is  imploring  the  country  to  prepare  for  it  ?  Let 
us  pay  no  heed  to  him.  Let  us  forget  that  he  has  spent 
all  the  days  of  his  long  and  blameless  life  in  unselfish, 
untiring  devotion  to  our  defence  and  security,  from  that 
far-off  time  when  he  thrice  planted  our  flag  upon  the 
mess-house  at  Lucknow,  to  those  dark  months  a  dozen 
years  ago  when  he  rescued  the  Empire  from  the  impend- 
ing disaster  which  was  threatening  it  through  our  for- 
mer folly  and  negligence.  And  will  he  now  give  the 
remnant  of  his  strength,  and  spend  his  last  breath  to 


158  Patriotism  and 

spread  this  pestilent  heresy  of  mistrust  and  ill-feeling 
towards  our  good  neighbour,  Germany?  Happily  our 
great,  sensible  public  holds  the  same  opinions  as  our- 
selves, and  is  in  no  mood  to  listen  to  his  unwelcome 
warnings.  But  cannot  he  be  silenced  ?  For  if  he  awak- 
ens the  country  to  its  danger,  it  will  upset  all  our  plans. 
Will  nobody  bid  the  aged  mischief -monger  cease  his  ir- 
ritating prattle? 

Ah!  here  comes  another  man  after  our  own  hearts, 
who  speaks  with  full  authority  and  intimate  knowledge 
of  that  dear  land  of  enlightenment  and  benevolence, 
who  finds  its  atmosphere  so  congenial  that  he  has  chosen 
it  for  his  spiritual  home,  and  who  knows  the  minds 
of  its  rulers.  For  have  they  not  with  keen  discernment 
of  his  character,  made  him  the  envoy  of  their  goodwill 
towards  us,  their  accredited  go-between  to  soothe  away 
any  premature  suspicions  that  may  begin  to  buzz  in  our 
drowsy  bewildered  noddles?  It  is  true,  as  he  shall 
afterwards  tell  us  in  proof  of  his  own  discernment,  that 
his  own  suspicions  were  aroused,  and  that  he  felt  some 
alarm  at  what  he  saw  and  heard  amongst  his  spiritual 
co-mates.  But  shall  that  move  him  to  give  even  as  much 
as  a  timely  caution  to  his  countrymen,  and  put  them  on 
their  guard?  Nol  he  will  continue  to  bring  us  bland 
and  honeyed  messages  of  conciliation,  and  treacherous 
assurances  of  peace.  Nor  need  we  much  trouble  now 
to  ask  whether  the  indestructible  label  that  Time  shall 
fasten  upon  him  will  be  "Dupe  of  Germany"  or  "De- 
luder  of  England." 

But  here  he  comes,  fresh  from  Germany,  the  authen- 
tic harbinger  of  loving  communion  between  the  two 
nations,  who,  with  his  superior  knowledge  of  her  rulers' 
benign  intentions  towards  us,  shall  quickly  stop  the 
mouth  of  this  tiresome,  garrulous  veteran.  It  might  be 


Popular  Education  159 

well  to  pour  ridicule  on  the  pertinacious  old  meddler, 
and  taunt  him  with  knowing  nothing  of  his  own  busi- 
ness. Excellent!  Our  sagacious  internuncio  has  op- 
portunely turned  the  tables  on  the  mischievous  old  war- 
rior, and  has  adapted  the  European  situation  to  the 
necessities  of  our  political  and  social  plans.  We  may 
safely  trust  his  sound  judgment  in  this  matter,  for 
does  he  not  hold  the  same  opinions  as  ourselves?  And 
now  we  can  go  on  arranging  the  future  to  our  liking 
— Crash !  The  cannons  are  thundering  from  one  end  of 
Europe  to  the  other.  Could  anything  be  more  annoy- 
ing? 

And  what  shall  we  do  with  our  opinions  now  ? 

Some  few  of  us  will  change  them,  having  belatedly 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  safer  to  found  opin- 
ions upon  facts,  than  to  trust  that  facts  will  adjust 
themselves  to  our  opinions. 

Some  more  of  us  will  certainly  not  change  our  opin- 
ions because  they  happen  to  be  in  conflict  with  facts. 
Eather  shall  that  be  a  reason  for  holding  our  opinions 
all  the  more  doggedly.  Yes,  and  we  have  conscience, 
too !  And  a  conscience  so  nicely  tuned,  so  obedient  to 
our  will,  that  we  must  needs  hold  its  dictates  to  be  in- 
fallible. Our  conscience  shall  command  us  to  hold  fast 
to  our  opinions,  and  to  cherish  them  all  the  more  stub- 
bornly, the  more  they  are  proved  to  be  wrong.  This  war 
has  upset  all  our  plans  for  shaping  a  desirable  future 
for  mankind.  We  will  take  our  revenge  on  the  war  by 
upsetting  it.  We  will  thwart  its  prosecution  by  every 
device  we  can  imagine.  We  will  distort  facts ;  we  will 
spread  delusions ;  we  will  defame  our  countrymen ;  we 
will  invent  excuses  for  the  enemy,  and  condone  his  hell- 
ish infamies.  We  will  foment  disaffection  and  strikes; 
we  will  protest  against  conscription,  and  delay  it  till 


160  Patriotism  and 

it  may  be  too  late.  We  will  shake  the  resolution  of  the 
people,  and  we  will  weaken  the  hands  of  the  Govern- 
ment. We  will  offer  our  embraces  to  the  good  Scheide- 
mann ;  we  will  intrigue  to  get  into  communication  with 
him,  for  does  he  not  hold  the  same  opinions  as  our- 
selves ?'  We  will  greedily  seize  every  chance  of  bringing 
about  an  ignoble  peace,  or  an  equally  welcome  defeat. 
What  do  we  care  though  civilization  is  blazing  to  ruins, 
and  though  every  one  of  us  may  be  sold  into  grinding 
slavery  ?  Shall  that  be  a  reason  for  changing  our  opin- 
ions? 

And  the  rest  of  us,  who  had  also  prepared  a  busy 
programme  of  social  and  political  reforms  just  suited  to 
the  pressing  needs  of  the  people — what  shall  we  do  with 
our  opinions  ?  For  it  seems  that  the  pressing  needs  of 
the  people  are  for  guns  and  shells,  and  men  trained  to 
slaughter — just  the  mischievous  and  evil  things  that  we 
have  all  along  counselled  them  to  do  without.  Clearly, 
our  opinions,  though  they  were  exactly  suited  to  the 
conditions  and  circumstances  that  we  desired,  are  not 
at  all  suited  to  the  conditions  and  circumstances  in 
which  we  find  ourselves. 

Such  an  admirable,  well-considered  set  of  opinions, 
too !  And  enforced  by  such  a  wealth  of  convincing  ar- 
gument, and  such  a  powerfully  organized  caucus.  It 
would  be  a  pity  to  waste  such  a  valuable  set  of  opinions, 
after  all  the  trouble  we  have  taken  to  form  them.  Still 
we  must  own  they  are  out  of  accord  with  very  palpable 
and  distressing  facts.  When  our  homes  are  being 
bombed,  and  starvation  is  possible,  when  the  country  is 
threatened  with  invasion  and  pillage,  Patriotism  be- 
comes a  temporary  duty.  And  we  will  loyally  fulfil 
that  duty  to  our  uttermost.  This  need  not  prevent  us 
from  running  our  opinions  alongside  of  our  Patriot- 


Popular  Education  161 

ism,  trusting  that  in  the  present  confusion  the  incon- 
gruity will  not  be  apparent.  Happily,  we  have  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  our  opinions  largely  accepted  as  per- 
manent political  gospel,  and  we  may  be  sure  that  when 
once  an  opinion  gets  into  a  man's  head,  he  is  not  going 
to  dislodge  it,  merely  because  it  is  out  of  harmony  with 
facts.  We  will  therefore  regard  the  war  as  a  tiresome 
interlude,  a  disagreeable  suspension  of  our  political 
activities.  When  it  is  over,  we  can  throw  our  Patriot- 
ism overboard.  For  what  need  will  there  be  for  Patri- 
otism in  a  world  which  will  be  regulated  by  our  opin- 
ions? 

Indeed,  the  more  we  contemplate  the  future,  the 
brighter  is  the  outlook  for  our  opinions.  For  as  soon  as 
the  war  is  comfortably  past,  it  will  be  clear  to  every- 
body that  were  it  not  for  this  pernicious  vice  of  Patriot- 
ism, there  would  be  no  wars  at  all.  Away  with  it,  then, 
and  let  us  work  heart  and  soul  for  Internationalism, 
and  the  millennium  that  will  accompany  it.  And  sure- 
ly if  ever  mankind  deserved  a  millennium,  it  will  be 
after  this  war.  Not  only  do  they  deserve  it,  but  they 
are  evidently  resolved  to  get  it.  And  how  can  they  get 
it,  but  by  the  wide  diffusion  and  acceptance  of  our  opin- 
ions? And  how  wonderfully  our  opinions  are  adapted 
to  a  millennium,  and  precisely  to  that  kind  of  millen- 
nium which  is  most  desirable  for  mankind  in  their 
present  circumstances!  Let  us  stick  to  our  opinions, 
then,  and  furbish  them  up  with  a  few  new  phrases,  se- 
cure that  when  peace  is  declared,  they  will  meet  with 
almost  universal  acceptance. 

For  many  years  before  the  war,  a  growing  body  of 
political  opinion  had  declared  itself  in  favour  of  So- 
cialism and  Internationalism.  The  bulk  of  the  Liberal 
party  was  in  a  process  of  absorption  by  its  extreme  elg- 


162  Patriotism  and 

ments,  and  was  being  gradually  committed  to  princi- 
ples that,  if  they  proved  to  be  sound  and  workable, 
would  lead  to  the  domination  of  the  world  by  Interna- 
tional Societies,  and  that,  if  they  proved  to  be  unsound 
and  unworkable,  would  lead  to  universal  anarchy. 
Boughly,  the  Liberals  formed  one  party  with  groups  of 
Labour  Socialists  and  Internationalists,  and  the  odd 
addition  of  Irish  Nationalists,  whose  only  qualifications 
for  political  association  with  Internationalists  were  an 
even  larger  capacity  for  discontent,  and  an  even  more 
fatal  facility  in  expressing  it. 

The  Socialists  and  Internationalists,  though  fewer  in 
numbers,  were  gradually  gaining  the  ascendancy  of 
power  in  the  party,  because  they  were  gradually  gaining 
the  ascendancy  of  power  with  the  electors.  There  were 
various  shades  and  forms  of  Socialism  and  Internation- 
alism. None  of  them  could  agree  in  any  feasible  con- 
structive scheme.  But  they  all  agreed  that  the  present 
social  structures  of  the  various  nations  would  have  to 
be  broken  down,  and  the  present  forms  of  government 
destroyed,  or  rendered  tributary  to  the  supreme  power 
of  some  sort  of  International  Congress,  which  was  to 
rule  the  civilized  world  in  future. 

This  was  the  avowed  aim  of  the  Socialists  and  Inter- 
nationalists;  and  the  Liberal  party,  from  the  exigen- 
cies of  its  position,  was  driven  to  lend  them  more  or  less 
countenance,  and  more  or  less  to  adopt  their  programme. 
We  may  say  that  the  whole  of  the  variegated,  composite 
party  was  working  towards  Internationalism,  though 
many  of  them  may  not  have  been  aware  of  their  desti- 
nation. It  was  not  only  the  Germans  who  were  pre- 
paring to  dominate  the  world,  and  to  enforce  their  regi- 
men upon  it.  The  Socialists  and  Internationalists  were 
also  preparing  to  dominate  the  world,  and  to  enforce 


Popular  Education  163 

their  regimen  upon  it.  And  the  Socialists  and  Interna- 
tionalists were  almost  equally  sure  of  success,  whenever 
the  trial  should  come.  For  they  had  clearly  instructed 
their  comrades  that  their  true  country  was  not  the  land 
of  their  hirth  which  had  treated  them  so  scurvily,  hut 
that  International  State  which  would  give  them  all  they 
could  desire,  and  which  would  arise  as  soon  as  the  pres- 
ent obsolete  social  structures  were  demolished.  And 
having  ceaselessly  drilled  their  comrades  in  allegiance 
to  that  International  State,  and  sworn  them  to  work  for 
its  speedy  establishment,  what  would  happen  if  war 
were  declared  between  the  nations  ?  The  Socialists  and 
Internationalists  would  proclaim  their  solidarity,  throw 
down  their  arms,  and  refuse  to  fight  each  other.  Those 
who  expected  dear  comrades  who  held  the  same  opin- 
ions to  cut  each  other's  throats,  would  find  themselves 

ievously  mistaken,  and  would  be  put  to  the  rout. 
After  perhaps  a  few  feeble  splutter  ings,  the  projected 
war  would  fizzle  out  for  lack  of  material  to  nourish  it. 

Some  such  result  was  confidently  expected  by  Social- 
ists and  Internationalists  to  follow  any  attempt  to  cause 
fratricidal  strife  between  the  enrolled  citizens  of  that 
new  world  commonwealth,  whose  foundations  they  had 
so  well  and  truly  laid  on  the  ruined  and  obliterated 
landmarks  of  extinct  Patriotism. 

What  did  really  happen  ? 

As  soon  as  war  was  declared,  the  Socialists  and  Inter- 
nationalists immediately  split  into  strictly  national 
groups,  and  rushed  to  defend  their  respective  flags.  And 
excepting  small  minorities,  they  have  been  amongst  the 
loudest  and  bravest  defenders  of  the  countries  of  their 
birth.  Jaures,  who  had  opposed  the  three  years'  mili- 
tary service  bill  for  France,  recanted  when  the  Ger- 
mans were  swarming  towards  her  frontiers.  Even  the 


Patriotism  and 

witty,  mischievous,  impudent  Impossiblist,  who  had 
tried  to  boss  the  British  Empire  by  proving  that  every- 
body in  it,  except  himself,  was  hopelessly  wrong  upon 
every  subject — even  he  was  obliged  to  make  some  show 
of  loyalty  to  the  stupid  country  that  had  applauded  his 
antics  in  times  of  peace,  but  was  not  quite  stupid  enough 
to  tolerate  them,  when,  to  the  delight  of  his  German 
friends,  he  stabbed  her  in  her  hour  of  darkest  need. 

And  the  good  Scheidemann  and  his  followers  over 
there?  Instead  of  throwing  down  their  arms,  what  do 
they  do  but  prove  themselves  to  be  the  sturdiest  of 
patriots,  voting  constant  supplies  to  their  robber  gov- 
ernment to  carry  on  the  most  brutal  war  against  their 
French  and  British  comrades,  and  to  murder  helpless 
women  and  children  ?  And  to-day  the  recreant  Scheide- 
mann is  accusing  Us,  the  Socialists  of  the  Entente — 
Us,  who  hold  the  same  opinions  as  himself — is  accus- 
ing Us  of  being  the  cause  of  prolonging  this  devastating 
war.  He  fastens  the  guilt  of  continued  bloodshed  upon 
Us !  A  man  whom  we  had  embraced  in  the  sacred  com- 
munion of  International  brotherhood!  He  brings  this 
damning  accusation  against  Us!  We  are  sadly  disap- 
pointed in  Scheidemann.  He  is  not  the  man  we  judged 
him  to  be.  For  when  it  comes  to  the  push,  he  backs  his 
own  beloved  country  instead  of  backing  his  and  our 
opinions.  How  shall  we  ever  arrange  the  world  to  our 
liking,  if  men  will  go  on  backing  their  own  countries 
against  our  opinions?  And  just  as  we  had  got  them 
accepted  as  permanent  political  gospel  by  all  the  ad- 
vanced thinkers  of  all  classes  in  all  civilized  countries! 
How  is  it  that  facts  have  played  us  such  an  uncivil 
trick  ?  How  is  it  that  they  have  so  obstinately  refused 
to  conform  to  our  opinions? 

In  all  the  affairs  of  life  where  the  emotions  are 


Popular  Education  165 

brought  into  play,  men's  actions  are  guided  by  their  in- 
stincts rather  than  by  their  opinions.  Patriotism  is  the 
most  compulsive  and  most  universal  of  all  instincts, 
excepting  those  of  sex  and  maternity.  As  surely  as  the 
phagocytes  in  my  bloodstream  will  rush  to  defend  me 
when  I  am  wounded,  and  will  sacrifice  themselves  to 
make  me  whole,  so  surely  will  the  men  and  women  of  a 
country  leap  to  her  flag  when  she  is  assaulted,  and  will 
willingly  die  that  she  may  live.  When  an  animal  body 
grows  old  or  corrupt,  its  own  phagocytes  turn  upon  it, 
and  prey  upon  it,  and  hand  it  over  to  dissolution.  When 
a  nation  grows  old  or  corrupt,  its  men  and  women  be- 
come seditious,  and  sap  its  strength,  and  hand  it  over 
to  dissolution.  How  like  sedition  is  to  cancer! 

Nature  gives  us  all  the  primal  instincts  in  excess. 
They  are  so  necessary  for  our  preservation  that  she  en- 
courages them  to  exaggeration.  What  single  cause  has 
worked  more  ravages  and  evil  amongst  mankind  than 
the  mad  impulsions  of  the  sexual  instinct?  Not  war 
itself  has  more  horribly  scarred  and  maimed  humanity, 
filled  more  hospitals,  violated  more  homes,  strewn  the 
pathway  of  our  race  with  more  wrecks  and  castaways. 
Yet  I  have  never  heard  of  anyone  who  proposed  to  abol- 
ish the  sexual  instinct,  except  my  Aunt  Julia,  who 
maintains  that  Providence  has  scandalously  misman- 
aged the  whole  business.  The  arguments  whereby  my 
Aunt  Julia  seeks  to  abolish  the  sexual  instinct,  run 
exactly  parallel  to  the  arguments  whereby*  Interna- 
tionalists seek  to  abolish  the  instinct  of  Patriotism.  All 
who  have  well-educated  minds  will  hope  that  my  Aunt 
Julia  may  be  more  successful  than  the  Internationalists 
have  been. 

The  maternal  instinct  often  turns  to  blind  idolatry. 
It  shows  itself  absurd,  unreasoning,  unreasonable,  un- 


166  Patriotism  and 

just,  unscrupulous.  It  is  nearly  always  tainted  with 
these  faults.  But  ugly  as  they  are  in  themselves,  these 
faults  are  but  the  shadows  and  inversions  of  the  su- 
preme virtues  of  motherhood,  infinite  devotion,  tender- 
ness, patience,  forgiveness,  exalted  self-sacrifice.  There 
are  many  estimable  women  without  the  maternal  in- 
stinct. Nature  disdains  these  superior  creatures,  pushes 
them  aside,  and  commands  them  to  perish.  The  mater- 
nal instinct  is  so  valuable  to  our  race,  that  Nature  is 
careless  how  many  faults  she  binds  up  with  it. 

Again,  take  the  permanent  instinct  of  religion.  It 
is  so  valuable  to  our  race,  that  Nature  seems  to  care 
little  what  stupidities  men  believe,  so  long  as  they  be- 
lieve in  something.  Perhaps  I  should  have  said  that 
God  seems  to  care  little  what  men  believe,  so  long  as 
they  believe  in  something.  But  it  would  be  dishonour- 
ing to  God  to  make  Him  responsible  for  the  religious 
beliefs  of  mankind — for  instance,  amongst  other  things, 
for  the  comic  and  virulent  nonsense  of  the  Athanasian 
Creed.  It  is  more  respectful  to  God  to  throw  the  blame 
for  such  things  upon  Nature,  leaving  the  puzzling 
question  of  the  distinction  between  God  and  Nature 
to  offer  us  excellent  material  for  future  debate. 

Here  I  am  sorely  tempted  to  suggest  a  parallel  be- 
tween the  experts  and  expounders  of  religion,  and  the 
experts  and  expounders  of  other  matters — shall  we  say 
of  Education?  But  I  abstain,  and  repel  with  suitable 
indignation  any  impertinent  memory  of  Horace  Wai- 
pole's  rebuke  to  the  expert  and  expounder  of  heraldry, 
"Why,  you  don't  understand  your  own  silly  business !" 

Affirming,  then,  with  passionate  sincerity  of  convic- 
tion, the  urgent  need  of  a  credible  religion,  it  may  be 
readily  admitted  that  even  the  two  hundred  confused 
and  contradictory  forms  of  belief  that  we  now  profess 


Popular  Education  167 

are  better  than  no  religion  at  all.  Blank  Atheism,  blank 
denial,  are  condemned  to  sterility.  We  must  establish 
relations  with  the  Eternal.  There  are  many  honest, 
clear-thinking,  highly-intellectual  people  who  are  with- 
out the  religious  instinct,  but  like  the  superior  women 
who  are  without  the  maternal  instinct,  they  pass  away 
and  leave  no  offspring.  Mankind  goes  on  believing — 
something.  Religion  is  one  of  the  primal  necessary  in- 
stincts. It  springs  up  anew  in  every  child.  It  is  so 
valuable  to  our  race,  as  the  only  surety  for  conduct,  and 
the  only  builder  of  character,  that  Nature  constantly 
replants  it  in  our  hearts,  and  is  careless  what  stupidi- 
ties, bigotries,  and  cruelties  she  binds  up  with  it. 

It  is  the  same  with  the  permanent  universal  instinct 
of  Patriotism.  It  is  so  valuable  to  a  nation  that  the 
peoples  who  are  without  it,  tend  towards  servitude  and 
decay,  and  are  soon  absorbed  in  neighbouring  nations, 
who  may  be  much  lower  in  civilization,  but  have  a 
stronger  instinct  of  Patriotism.  As  religion  tends  to 
bind  our  private  conduct  into  a  consistent  and  effective 
unity,  so  does  Patriotism  tend  to  bind  our  national  con- 
duct into  a  consistent  and  effective  unity. 

May  we  not  claim  that  Patriotism  is  not  only  valu- 
able and  preservative  to  a  nation  in  its  dealings  with 
other  nations,  but  that  it  is  also  valuable  and  construc- 
tively energizing  to  the  human  race  as  a  whole  ?  It  is 
by  struggle  and  warfare  against  our  nearest  competitors 
and  rivals,  who  are  then  subdued  into  co-operation  and 
combination  with  us  against  our  next  nearest  competi- 
tors and  rivals — it  is  by  means  of  these  alternations  of 
competition  and  co-operation,  that  we  have  raised  our- 
selves from  monkeyhood  to  a  state  of  savagery,  and 
from  a  state  of  savagery  to  our  present  level  of  civili- 
zation. This  law  of  alternating  competition  and  oo- 


168  Patriotism  and 

operation  may  be  traced  in  its  constant  but  very  irregu- 
lar working,  in  all  our  affairs,  and  in  all  the  past  his- 
tory of  our  race.  When  competition  is  once  subdued, 
it  leads  to  co-operation  in  mutual  interests  with  our  late 
competitors.  Co-operation,  in  its  turn,  leads  to  a  more 
enlarged  form  of  competition,  which,  again,  leads  to  a 
more  enlarged  and  higher  form  of  co-operation.  Pa- 
triotism has  always  been  an  accessory  to  this  alternative 
process  as  it  works  amongst  nations.  Is  not  Patriotism 
an  instrument  in  the  evolution  of  civilization  ?  And  is 
it  not  therefore  beneficial  to  the  whole  human  race  ? 

When  we  compare  Patriotism  with  such  other  primal 
necessary  instincts  as  maternity  and  religion,  we  find 
that  like  them,  it  has  the  defects  of  its  qualities.  Like 
maternity,  it  often  shows  itself  absurd,  unreasoning,  un- 
reasonable, unjust,  unscrupulous.  Like  religion,  it 
often  shows  itself  stupid,  bigoted,  cruel,  dishonest  in 
thought  and  in  practice.  And  beyond  this,  Patriotism 
often  has  an  offensive  blatancy  and  megalomania  which 
are  all  its  own.  Patriotism  is  nearly  always  tainted 
with  these  faults.  But  ugly  as  they  are  in  themselves, 
these  faults  are  like  those  of  motherhood,  only  the 
shadows  and  inversions,  the  seamy  side  of  its  virtues. 
And  accordingly  we  find  that  Patriotism  being  so  valu- 
able and  necessary  to  the  vigorous  health  and  prosperity 
of  a  people,  Nature  seems  to  be  careless  how  many 
faults  and  excesses  she  binds  up  with  it  in  the  na- 
tional character. 

But  if  Patriotism  is  valuable  and  necessary  to  a  peo- 
ple, Justice  and  Humanity  and  the  keeping  of  the 
great  commandments  are  still  more  valuable  and  neces- 
sary. For  unless  these  are  reverenced  and  practised, 
human  society  falls  to  pieces.  Only  in  the  measure  that 
these  are  reverenced  and  practised,  does  any  unit  of  hu- 


Popular  Education  169 

man  society  hold  together.  When  a  nation  does  away 
with  the  great  commandments,  and  sacrifices  them  to 
its  Patriotism,  sooner  or  later  they  take  their  revenge, 
and  bring  that  nation  to  ruin.  If  Germany  had  suc- 
ceeded in  gaining  dominion  over  the  whole  world,  she 
would  never  have  been  secure;  for  the  whole  world 
would  have  raised  itself  in  perpetual  revolt  against  her, 
until  finally,  perhaps  after  generations  of  misery  and 
bloodshed,  she  would  have  been  brought  down.  It  is 
Germany's  crimes  that  have  lost  her  the  dominion  of  the 
world.  Her  Patriotism  and  discipline  and  industry 
would  have  won  it  for  her. 

How  potent,  how  compulsive,  how  possessive  of  the 
heart  and  soul  of  a  people,  how  indestructible  an  instinct 
is  Patriotism,  is  shown  by  Ireland. 

There  is  no  thoughtful  Irishman,  who  has  examined 
the  facts  and  finances  of  the  British  Exchequer,  and 
who  does  not  know  that  Ireland  is  the  most  favoured 
part  of  the  United  Kingdom.  There  is  no  thoughtful 
Irishman  who  does  not  know  that  to  the  extent  that  Ire- 
land is  separated  from  England,  to  that  extent  Ireland 
will  be  impoverished  and  weakened,  and  handed  over  to 
the  internal  dissension.  There  is  no  thoughtful  Irish- 
man who  does  not  perceive  that  the  entire  separation  of 
Ireland  from  Britain,  would  bring  untold  misery  and 
economic  ruin  to  his  country,  and  would  shake  the 
entire  structure  of  ordered  government  throughout 
Europe.  There  is  no  thoughtful  Irishman  who  under- 
stands his  countrymen,  and  does  not  foresee  that  within 
three  years  of  separation  from  England,  civil  war  would 
be  raging  over  his  land,  and  would  have  to  be  quelled 
by  outside  intervention.  There  is  no  thoughtful  Irish- 
man who  does  not  know  that  England  stands  waiting 
to  disengage  herself  from  Irish  affairs  to  the  utmost 


170  Patriotism  and 

limit,  and  perhaps  beyond  the  utmost  limit,  that  is 
compatible  with  the  existence  of  social  order,  and  the 
security  of  life  and  property  in  both  countries. 

There  is  the  map,  which  shows  the  two  islands  se- 
curely anchored  within  a  few  miles  of  each  other.  And 
there  are  the  thousand,  thousand  ties  of  social  interest, 
economic  interest,  trade,  custom,  language,  and  every 
day  intercourse  and  relationship,  which  through  cen- 
turies have  grown  round  the  lives  of  the  two  peoples, 
and  which  cannot  be  severed  without  tearing  a  mortal 
wound  in  the  sides  of  both  of  them. 

Yet  against  all  reason,  all  interest,  all  wisdom,  against 
all  argument,  and  all  knowledge,  this  inextinguishable 
instinct  of  Patriotism  possesses  Ireland,  and  drives  her 
to  clamour  unceasingly  for  fatal  disruption.  What 
Englishman  is  there,  who,  loving  his  own  country,  does 
not  ungrudgingly  sympathize  with  this  wild  adoring 
passion  of  her  sons  for  Ireland  ?  What  Englishman  is 
there,  who  would  not,  if  it  were  only  possible,  satisfy 
it  to  the  full,  give  Ireland  the  cursed  gift  of  a  separate 
destiny,  and  pityingly,  reluctantly,  cruelly,  loose  her 
to  drift  or  crash  to  her  doom  ? 

But  there  is  the  map.  The  two  countries  cannot 
be  wrenched  asunder.  And  there  are  hostages  on  each 
eide  who  cannot  be  stifled,  or  betrayed  to  persecution 
and  extinction  by  the  foes  of  their  own  household. 

Every  Home  Kule  Bill  that  has  yet  been  devised,  is 
now  clearly  seen  to  have  been  unworkable — an  instru- 
ment of  further  disagreement  and  embroilment.  And 
will  we  now  concert  some  new  scheme  of  lavish  con- 
cessions, and  paper  obligations,  and  juggling  compro- 
mises and  instalments  of  progressive  dismemberment — 
yet  one  more  unworkable  abortion  to  breed  new  con- 
fusions and  dissensions  between  the  two  countries  ? 


Popular  Education  171 

Will  we  never  face  the  plain  issue,  and  own  to  our- 
selves that  there  is  no  middle  way  between  irrevocable 
separation,  and  Federal  Parliaments,  giving  full  play 
and  encouragement  to  the  local  patriotism  of  each 
division  of  the  United  Kingdom — a  Kingdom  that  must 
be  united ;  either  United  in  gathering  peace  and  security 
and  prosperity  to  itself  under  one  compact,  sovereign, 
central  authority,  or  as  surely  United  in  rendering 
itself  a  common  prey  to  internal  disorganization,  and 
external  assault,  and  passing  through  successions  of 
strife  and  misery  and  bloodshed,  to  the  same  goal  of  a 
common  dissolution  and  destruction.  There  is  the  map. 
A  United  Kingdom  it  must  remain. 

If  Federal  Parliaments  will  not  solve  the  question, 
then  it  can  only  be  solved  in  blood.  But  Ireland  will 
not  be  content  with  a  Federal  Parliament.  Hear  a 
wise  word  from  Goethe.  In  1829  the  British  Parlia- 
ment had  already  begun  its  blind,  hopeless,  perennial 
task  of  curing  the  woes  of  Ireland.  "Give  Ireland 
Catholic  Emancipation,"  was  then  the  cry,  "And  she 
will  be  pacified."  Said  Goethe  to  Ekermann:  "This 
we  can  see.  Ireland  suffers  from  evils  that  will  not  be 
cured  by  any  means,  and  therefore,  of  course  not  by 
Emancipation.  It  has  hitherto  been  unfortunate  for 
Ireland  to  endure  her  evils  alone ;  it  is  now  unfortunate 
England  is  also  drawn  into  them."  [Sage  of  Weimar, 
you  said  then  the  final  word.] 

What  welter  of  seditions,  and  brawls,  and  enmities, 
what  gusts  and  tempests  of  rebellions,  what  barren 
martyrdoms,  what  harvests  of  misery  and  despair,  what 
alternations  of  assassins'  plots  and  politicians'  dodgeries, 
what  wildernesses  of  talk  in  Parliament,  and  what 
deluge  of  words  in  the  Press,  what  multifarious  shifts 
and  evasions,  and  intrigues  and  treacheries,  have  we 


172  Patriotism  and 

since  passed  through,  only  to  find  ourselves  thwarted, 
and  baffled,  and  impotent,  with  Ireland  still  nursing 
against  us  hatred  and  revenge;  more  stubbornly  re- 
solved not  to  be  pacified  than  when  Goethe  threw  his 
illuminating  beam  upon  her  desolation  a  hundred  years 
ago! 

Is  there,  as  Goethe  said,  no  cure  for  the  woes  of  Ire- 
land? Then  England  must  needs  continue  to  bear 
them  with  her ;  must  take  upon  her  own  aching  shoulders 
the  greater  part  of  the  burden;  with  constant,  forbear- 
ing, sisterly  love,  with  inexhaustible  patience  and  ever- 
ready  help,  must  steadfastly,  unflinchingly  refuse  to 
deal  out  skimble-skamble,  piecemeal  separation  and 
sham  pacification,  with  their  certain  deadly  recoil  at 
the  hearts  of  both  nations. 

Kathleen,  sister  Kathleen,  most  wilful,  most  per- 
verse, and  yet  most  dearly  loved,  and  dearly  lovable  of 
all  this  human  family,  will  you  never  forget  our  cruel 
treatment  of  you  in  years  that  have  long  gone  by  ?  In 
deep  abasement,  deeper  than  your  sorrows,  in  contrition 
heaped  up  higher  than  we  heaped  your  wrongs,  we  own 
that  we  injured  and  oppressed  you  beyond  forgiveness ; 
and  yet  do  supplicate  your  forgiveness,  that  we  may  heal 
your  wounds  that  our  hands  have  made,  and  wipe  away 
your  tears  that  we  caused  to  flow. 

That  sacred  fire  of  never-dying  love  for  your  coun- 
try— we  would  not  quench  it,  Kathleen.  We  would  but 
contain  it  on  its  own  hearth,  that  it  may  not  be  fanned 
by  these  outside,  wild  world  gusts  and  spread  its  fury 
till  it  burns  down  both  our  homes. 

Old  things  have  passed  away.  In  this  new  perilous 
world,  we  need  each  other's  love  and  support.  Great 
need  we  have  of  you,  Kathleen,  Far  greater  need  you 
have  of  us. 


Popular  Education  173 

Will  you  still  multiply  your  miseries,  and  add  to 
your  afflictions,  and  increase  your  poverty,  by  staying 
apart  from  us?  Will  you  remain  wedded  to  calamity, 
and  mortgaged  to  despair  ? 

Look  back  upon  your  yesterdays,  all  filled  with  fruit- 
less controversies  and  strifes;  with  the  wreckage  of 
your  delusions,  and  the  ruins  of  your  hopes ;  with  blind 
hatreds  and  revenges  against  us,  and  treasons  against 
yourself ;  with  vain  bewailings  of  your  fate,  and  desper- 
ate wrestlings  to  escape  from  it — one  long,  unceasing 
tale  of  feckless  stratagems,  plots,  insurrections  and  re- 
volts, told  over  and  over  again,  with  hideous  repetition 
and  persistent  emphasis  of  defeat. 

And  will  you  now  write  that  history  all  over  again  ? 
Will  you  make  your  future  a  more  dreadful  copy  of  your 
past  ?  Will  you  dedicate  tomorrow,  and  tomorrow,  and 
tomorrow  to  the  wild  and  bloody  pursuit  of  common 
disaster  for  us  both;  and  dream  your  mad  dream  of 
vengeance  and  disunion,  and  wake  to  find  you  have 
dragged  us  twain  over  the  verge  of  irrevocable 
destruction  ? 

Will  you  dree  that  weird,  Kathleen  ? 

Even  then  we  shall  be  united.  Our  arms  are  about 
each  other's  necks,  either  in  choking  grips  of  enmity, 
seeking  to  strangle  each  other,  or  in  embraces  of  friend- 
ship and  sisterly  love.  Struggle  as  you  will,  Kathleen, 
we  cannot  be  free  of  each  other.  No  separate  destiny 
can  you  have,  willingly  as  we  would  give  it  to  you. 
Our  final  partnership  is  sure,  and  though  we  have  not 
been  lovely  and  pleasant  in  our  lives,  in  our  death  we 
shall  not  be  divided. 

Kathleen,  sister  Kathleen,  what  fresh  bloodstains  are 
these  upon  your  hands  ?  Ah,  cleanse  yourself  of  them, 
and  throw  away  that  secret  dagger.  For  be  sure,  that 


174  Patriotism  and 

within  three  years  of  self-government,  you  will  be 
using  that  same  dagger  with  deadlier  effect  to  stab 
your  own  flesh,  than  ever  you  used  it  against  us. 

Frustrated  and  defeated  already,  are  all  your  schemes 
of  independence  even  before  you  have  laid  them;  mil- 
dewed is  every  harvest  that  you  shall  raise,  even  before 
you  have  sown  its  seed;  your  looms  shall  not  weave, 
and  your  ships  shall  not  sail;  your  harbours  shall  not 
be  built,  and  your  coasts  shall  have  no  commerce  but 
with  the  winds;  a  lonelier  desolation  shall  creep  over 
your  hills,  and  decay  shall  be  a  more  ruthless  invader  of 
your  cities,  than  ever  were  your  English  foes — the  grass 
is  already  growing  in  their  streets;  and  Penury, 
Squalor,  and  Misrule  are  appointed  their  chief  magis- 
trates. This  is  the  heritage  of  Separation  that  you  claim 
from  England.  How  can  we  add  to  the  wrongs  we  have 
done  you  in  past  centuries  by  giving  you  Separation 
Today  ? 

Kathleen,  sister  Kathleen,  there  is  but  a  narrow 
stretch  of  sea  between  us.  Will  you  for  ever  persuade 
yourself  that  it  is  an  ocean,  wider  and  angrier  than  the 
Atlantic,  and  never  to  be  crossed?  Will  you  not  at 
last,  Mavourneen,  show  us  a  most  noble  forgiveness, 
and  let  us  find  our  way  to  you  across  that  narrow  sea, 
with  loving  kindness,  and  help  and  reconciliation,  with 
assuagement  and  obliteration  of  the  past  ? 

Patriotism  is  not  wholly  a  matter  of  race  and  of 
country,  though  it  draws  its  richest  nourishment  from 
the  blood  of  its  fathers,  and  throws  its  deepest  roots 
into  its  native  land.  We,  who  were  born  amongst  the 
meadows  and  hedgerows  of  England,  may  delight  more 
in  mountains  and  heather,  but  the  wildest  and  sublimest 
scenery  never  takes  such  a  hold  upon  our  hearts.  There 
are  passages  in  Shakespeare  that  only  an  Englishman 


Popular  Education  175 

can  fully  understand,  and  some  that  give  a  relish  of 
homely  interpretation  only  to  those  who  are  native  in 
his  neighbouring  soil  and  air.  Even  to-day  there  are 
many  common  folk  among  the  South  Midlanders,  who 
have  a  kinship  with  Shakespeare,  and  an  intimacy  of 
approach  to  him,  which  is  denied  to  scholars  and  com- 
mentators. 

An  incipient  form  of  Patriotism  springs  up  in  every 
village.  The  inhabitants  of  Little  Pedlington  have  an 
inborn  contempt  for  the  inhabitants  of  Great  Pedling- 
ton; while  the  dwellers  in  Great  Pedlington  are  filled 
with  derision  for  the  dwellers  in  Little  Pedlington. 
East  Gawkham  lives  in  simmering  feuds  with  West 
Gawkham,  and  prides  itself  upon  its  higher  level  of 
morality.  West  Gawkham  returns  the  antagonism  of 
East  Gawkham,  and  brags  of  the  finer  achievements  of 
its  cricket  club.  There  is  little  enough  to  justify  these 
boasts  of  local  superiority,  for  the  morality  of  East 
Gawkham  is  deplorable,  and  the  cricketers  of  West 
Gawkham  are  a  team  of  contemptible  amateurs.  But  in 
any  matter  that  concerns  the  interests  of  their  common 
county,  all  these  four  villages  will  stubbornly  unite 
against  the  adjoining  county.  For  counties,  too,  have 
their  local  Patriotism. 

These  incipient  Patriotisms  have  their  excesses  and 
absurdities,  which  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  Popular  Edu- 
cation and  Internationalism  will  eradicate  in  the  course 
of  ten  thousand  years  or  so.  Meantime,  let  us  take  note 
that  these  instincts  are  not  the  prejudices  of  mere  yo- 
kels, but  are  part  of  the  common  heritage  of  humanity. 
They  begin  in  the  family  itself,  for  though  we  may  fall 
out  at  home,  we  stoutly  defend  our  kinsfolk  from  any 
interference  or  aspersion  by  our  neighbours.  If  we 
watch  ourselves,  we  shall  find  that  we  are  all  guilty  of 


176  Patriotism  and 

an  unreasonable  preference  for  our  own  family,  our 
own  village,  our  own  tribe,  our  own  trade,  our  own 
class,  our  own  country.  It  is  not  only  thieves  who,  from 
the  exigencies  of  their  calling,  hang  together  and  band 
themselves  against  the  rest  of  mankind.  All  human 
institutions  and  organizations  are  pervaded  by  clannish- 
ness,  which  is  a  form  of  Patriotism.  It  has  the  same 
defects  and  vices,  but  on  the  balance  it  is  largely  advan- 
tageous, helpful,  constructive.  It  is  inherent  in  all 
mankind.  What  one  of  us  has  not  in  him  some  smack 
of  the  perverse  partiality  of  the  old  Yorkshireman  who, 
having  been  taken  to  see  the  wonders  of  London  for 
the  first  time,  surveyed  his  native  town  on  his  return 
and  declared  "Eh !  There's  nowt  to  come  up  to  Pudsey 
after  all !" 

But  Patriotism  often  disengages  itself  from  the  ties 
of  race  and  country.  When  we  are  torn  away  from  our 
people  and  the  land  of  our  birth,  our  hearts  soon  begin 
to  throw  out  tendrils  towards  the  folk  and  the  country 
of  our  adoption,  and  we  end  by  clinging  to  them  with 
entire  loyalty  and  devotion.  This  engrafted  Patriot- 
ism is  always  liable  to  suspicion,  both  unjust  and  just. 
Nevertheless,  it  has  constantly  given  unquestionable 
proof  of  its  staunch  and  incorruptible  allegiance  to  its 
foster  motherland.  America  may  be  greatly  proud  that 
she  has  overcome  the  formidable  threat  of  German  ob- 
struction to  her  cause,  and  that  the  vast  majority  of  her 
citizens  of  German  descent  have  enthusiastically  de- 
clared their  attachment  to  her  flag. 

Surely  if  this  war  has  proved  anything,  it  has  proved 
the  reality,  the  vitality,  the  indestructibility  of  Patriot- 
ism. It  has  everywhere  shown  itself  to  be  the  compul- 
sive instinct,  the  governing  force  that  binds  a  nation 
into  effective  unity,  that  moves  and  quickens  all  the  re- 


Popular  Education  177 

lations  of  nations  with  one  another.  Doubtless  it  has 
often  shown  its  characteristic  defects  and  excesses.  But, 
except-  for  the  Patriotism  of  Belgium,  France,  England, 
Italy,  America,  and  our  other  Allies,  the  whole  civilized 
world  would  have  heen  under  the  heel  of  Germany  to- 
day. Internationalism,  in  all  its  manifestations,  has 
shown  itself  to  he  mischievous,  obstructive,  ruinous,  the 
engine  of  social  disruption  and  anarchy. 

This  must  needs  be  so.  Every  nation  is  a  living  so- 
cial organism,  whose  existence  depends  upon  its  obedi- 
ence to  the  general  laws  that  govern  all  living  things. 
None  of  its  many  internal  functions  can  be  performed 
except  in  harmonious  working  with  all  its  other  func- 
tions. It  cannot  be  healthy,  or  long  continue  as  a  liv- 
ing corporate  entity,  unless  all  its  organs  work  together 
for  the  welfare  of  the  whole  body.  This  is  a  mere 
commonplace  of  sociology,  but  it  is  constantly  ignored  in 
legislation,  and  is  frankly  despised  by  Internationalists. 

The  current  term  "Reconstruction"  implies  a  flat  de- 
nial of  the  laws  that  govern  national  reparation  and  de- 
velopment. It  is  sure  to  be  misleading,  and  may  be 
most  harmful,  in  the  period  of  social  repair  and  con- 
valescence that  lies  before  us  after  the  war.  For  the 
word  "Reconstruction"  confirms  the  ancient  and  per- 
sistent delusion  that  men  and  institutions  can  be  trans- 
formed according  to  the  few  simple  rules  that  carpen- 
ters and  masons  follow  in  handling  their  unresisting 
blocks  of  wood  and  stone.  The  same  heap  of  bricks  can 
be  made  into  a  pigsty  or  into  a  cathedral,  and  will  un- 
complainingly yield  themselves  to  the  design  of  the  ar- 
chitect, whatever  edifice  he  may  choose  to  build  with 
them.  The  statute  books  of  all  nations  are  littered 
with  the  abortive  enactments  of  legislators  who  have 
treated  men  as  blocks  of  wood  and  stone  that  can  be  mor- 


178  Patriotism  and 

tised  into  a  geometrical  social  structure  which  they  have 
designed.  "Reconstruction"  is  a  mischievously  wrong 
term  to  apply  to  those  activities  of  social  reparation 
in  which  we  shall  soon  be  engaged.  It  encourages  us  in 
a  wholly  false  conception  of  the  nature  and  scope  and 
limitations  of  those  activities. 

Nations  cannot  be  "reconstructed."  The  social  ar- 
chitect who  tries  to  "reconstruct"  a  nation,  finds,  sooner 
or  later,  that  he  is  handling  live  red-hot  bricks,  that  will 
not  lie  quiet  in  their  places,  but  keep  on  jumping  about 
with  wills  of  their  own,  when  he  tries  to  fit  them  in  his 
well-arranged  scheme.  The  regeneration  of  society  must 
be  accomplished,  not  by  methods  akin  to  those  of  the 
carpenter  and  the  builder,  but  by  methods  akin  to 
those  of  the  physician.  The  physician  is  successful, 
only  if  he  tunes  his  treatment  to  the  present  condition 
of  the  individual  body  under  his  care,  and  only  so  far 
as  he  can  coax  a  response  from  the  vital  forces  within 
that  body.  It  is  the  vital  forces  within  the  body  that 
work  its  repair. 

So  the  social  reformer  is  successful  only  when  he  un- 
derstands the  infiinitely  complex  laws  that  govern  the 
growth  and  development  of  the  body  politic,  only  when 
he  tunes  his  treatment  to  present  conditions,  and  only 
in  the  measure  that  he  can  draw  a  response  from  its 
living  indwelling  moral  and  spiritual  forces.  It  is  the 
moral  and  spiritual  forces  within  a  nation  that  must 
work  its  regeneration.  If  these  are  decayed  and  mori- 
bund, the  social  reformer  will  get  no  response,  even 
though  he  may  have  applied  the  correct  treatment.  He 
is  like  the  doctor  in  "Tristram  Shandy"  who  gave  his 
patient  the  right  medicine,  but  the  man  died.  "He 
ought  not,"  said  the  doctor. 

All  this  is  well  understood  by  practical  legislators. 


Popular  Education 


179 


Then  why  do  we  continue  to  talk  of  "Reconstruction^" 
when  already  the  immense  majority  of  our  electorate 
of  all  classes  are  possessed  with  the  delusion  that,  be- 
cause some  condition  of  society  is  desirahle  for  them- 
selves, or  for  their  neighbours,  or  for  the  nation,  or  for 
the  planet,  it  can  he  brought  about  by  merely  passing 
Acts  of  Parliament?  Are  we  not  likely  to  encourage 
much  legislative  quackery,  ending  in  disappointment 
and  disorder  ?  Would  it  not  be  well  to  change  the  title 
of  "Ministry  of  Reconstruction"  to  that  of  "Ministry 
of  Reparation"  ?  It  would  be  less  likely  to  mislead  us 
as  to  the  nature  of  the  work  that  lies  before  us,  and  of 
the  methods  that  we  must  use  to  make  it  prosper. 

I  do  not  say  that  a  society  or  a  nation  is  a  compact 
animal,  very  like  a  camel,  or  very  like  a  whale.  Obvi- 
ously nations  do  not  reproduce  themselves  after  the 
manner  of  animals.  Nations  are  renewed  and  grow  into 
separate  organisms,  by  means  of  fissure,  conquest,  in- 
terpenetration,  interbreeding,  and  absorption.  But 
when  these  processes  have  reached  a  certain  stage,  a  na- 
tion is  a  distinct  corporate  entity,  and  maintains  its  in- 
dividuality till  the  same  processes  bring  about  its  dis- 
solution. While  it  exists  as  a  nation,  it  has  its  own  will 
and  impulses,  its  own  purposes  and  aims,  and  its  own 
set  of  highly-involved  internal  organs,  adapted  to  its 
own  needs  and  pursuits,  just  like  an  animal.  All  its 
activities  must  be  carried  on  by  means  of  this  set  of  in- 
ternal organs,  working  in  co-operation  for  its  individual 
welfare.  A  nation  is  always  an  organized  mass  of  liv- 
ing tissue,  subject  to  the  laws  that  govern  the  growth 
and  processes  of  living  matter.  It  can  only  be  repaired 
by  strict  obedience  to  these  laws. 

Internationalists  look  upon  these  several  masses  of 
organized  living  matter,  as  so  many  structures  of  brick 


180  Patriotism  and 

and  timber  which  can  be  pulled  down  and  used  to  build 
up  one  new  universal  edifice  of  humanity.  Even  if  we 
allow,  as  we  readily  may,  that  the  laws,  institutions,  and 
social  fabric  of  each  nation,  are,  in  many  respects,  like 
a  house  that  provides  a  shelter,  workshop,  nursery,  and 
playground  to  the  people  who  have  built  it  and  live  in 
it — granting  this,  yet  the  inhabitants  of  each  national 
home  remain  as  a  separate  family,  with  their  own  man- 
ners, prejudices,  morals,  and  beliefs,  and  with  interests 
and  aims  that  are  in  perpetual  conflict  with  many  of 
the  interests  and  aims  of  their  neighbours. 

There  was  once  a  quaint  old  township  of  forty-six 
houses,  of  odd  sizes  and  shapes;  all  of  them  built  at 
different  times,  in  widely  varying  styles ;  some  of  them 
large  and  commodious  and  imposing;  others  of  middling 
size  and  importance ;  some  of  them  small  and  filthy  and 
pestilential;  some  of  them  new  and  crude  and  jerry- 
built;  many  of  them  old  and  ramshackle  and  tumble- 
down, having  been  repaired,  and  divided,  and  added  to, 
and  altered  to  suit  the  convenience  of  the  successive 
owners  in  the  past  generations.  These  houses  were  sev- 
erally inhabited  by  families  of  different  ranks,  sizes, 
and  degrees  of  relationship;  rich,  poor;  small,  large; 
respectable,  disreputable ;  with  divers  habits,  tastes,  pro- 
pensities, means  of  livelihood,  mental  and  physical  ca- 
pacities, morals,  religions,  casts  of  features,  facial  an- 
gles, complexions. 

Owing  to  these  great  diversities,  there  was  always 
more  or  less  strife  and  disturbance  in  the  town,  and 
occasionally  there  was  brawling  and  fighting  in  the 
streets ;  especially  as  the  acreage  of  the  parish  was  lim- 
ited, both  for  agricultural  and  building  purposes.  There 
was  perpetual  wrangling  over  the  most  coveted  sites, 
and  most  fertile  fields,  inasmuch  as  many  of  the  owners 


Popular  Education  181 

and  occupiers  of  them  could  not  show  a  good  title,  and 
in  many  cases  had  indeed  no  claim  beyond  that  of  hav- 
ing forcibly  ejected  the  former  holders,  who  also  had 
very  doubtful  rights  of  possession.  Sometimes  the 
fighting  was  between  two  neighbouring  families,  while 
the  rest  of  the  town  looked  on,  some  trying  to  mediate, 
some  encouraging  one  or  the  other  party.  Often  be- 
fore the  fight  was  ended,  one  or  two  of  the  neighbours 
would  join  in  the  fray,  according  as  their  interests,  or 
their  opinions,  or  their  love  of  a  fight  prompted  them. 

Occasionally  one  of  these  periodic  quarrels  would 
spread  through  the  town,  and  nearly  all  the  families 
would  take  part,  on  one  side  or  the  other,  in  a  general 
riot.  Traffic  would  be  stopped,  and  the  market  stalls 
overturned.  Paving  stones  would  be  torn  up,  and 
spades  and  axes  and  fire-irons  used  as  weapons,  till  the 
gutters  ran  with  blood.  Houses  would  be  burnt  and 
plundered,  and  much  valuable  property  destroyed. 
After  one  of  these  town  fights  which  had  been  unusually 
brutal  and  destructive,  and  when  at  length  peace  had 
been  restored,  one  or  two  of  the  leading  citizens  pro- 
posed that  they  should  all  agree  never  to  fight  again. 
Everybody  was  struck  with  the  wisdom  of  this  sensible 
proposal,  especially  the  members  of  those  families  who 
could  count  the  largest  number  of  bloody  noses  and 
broken  limbs.  So  they  resolved  to  put  it  into  practice 
at  once,  and  entered  into  a  covenant  never  to  fight  again, 
never,  never,  never. 

Beyond  this  salutary  provision  against  any  future 
disturbance  of  the  peace,  another  large  remedial  meas- 
ure was  brought  forward.  There  arose  in  the  town  a 
certain  Mr.  Fervent  Impossiblist,  who  had  long  brood- 
ed over  the  sad  state  of  its  affairs,  and  had  hatched  in 
his  brain  a  simple  plan  which  would  not  only  prevent 


182  Patriotism  and 

any  further  riots,  but  would  remove  the  economic 
tress  which  prevailed  in  most  families,  and  would  en- 
able the  whole  town  to  live  in  greatly  increased  wealth 
and  comfort  and  convenience.  He  called  a  meeting  of 
the  inhabitants,  and  laid  his  scheme  before  them. 

"The  condition  of  this  town  is  a  disgrace  to  human- 
ity," he  declared.  "Instead  of  living  in  amity  and 
peace  amongst  ourselves,  and  striving  to  make  every- 
body happy  and  comfortable  and  prosperous,  here  we 
all  are,  wasting  half  our  energies  and  half  our  time  in 
tricking  and  hindering  and  swindling  each  other,  in 
muddling  all  our  civic  concerns,  and  in  fighting  and  dis- 
abling each  other.  We  have  to  employ  a  large  body  of 
police  to  enforce  order,  and  yet  we  are  in  constant  dread 
of  burglary  and  depredations.  We  have  to  keep  all  our 
houses  locked  and  barred,  and  to  pay  a  heavy  insur- 
ance on  our  valuables.  Yet  we  are  never  safe,  but  live 
in  ceaseless  anxiety  and  alarm  about  them.  Really  this 
gtate  of  affairs  is  intolerable." 

These  remarks  were  received  with  general  approval, 
for  certainly  the  town  was  in  a  very  unsatisfactory  con- 
dition, and  most  of  the  inhabitants  were  genuinely  anx- 
ious for  a  radical  improvement,  especially  in  their  own 
lots. 

"You  oppress  and  ill-treat  your  servants,"  he  con- 
tinued. "In  some  houses  they  are  lodged  in  dirty  un- 
healthy rooms,  and  half  starved." 

This  was  quite  true,  and  drew  frantic  applause  from 
the  servants  themselves,  for  many  of  them  had  good 
reason  to  think  themselves  ill-used.  And  even  those 
who  were  very  well  off,  and  had  all  reasonable  comforts, 
were  quite  ready  to  be  convinced  that  they  were  shame- 
fully underpaid  and  downtrodden.  Indeed  it  was  no- 


Popular  Education  183 

ticed  that  the  loudest  cheers  for  the  speaker  came  from 
this  latter  class. 

"Now,"  said  Mr.  Fervent  Impossiblist,  "this  state  of 
things  must  positively  cease.  All  these  evils  and  abuses 
must  be  swept  away  from  this  time  forward." 

There  was  a  shout  of  wide  and  hearty  agreement. 

"What  is  the  cause  of  this  inequality,  injustice,  ill- 
feeling,  oppression,  disorder,  waste',  wrangling,  and 
fighting  ?  It  can  all  be  traced  to  the  fact  that  we  live  in 
our  own  separate  homes.  This  makes  us  selfish  and  cal- 
lous, greedy  for  our  own  comfort  and  prosperity,  and 
for  the  welfare  of  our  own  children,  careless  of  our 
neighbours'  comfort  and  prosperity,  and  neglectful  of 
our  duties  towards  our  neighbours'  children.  For  in 
any  well  regulated  society,  we  should  be  as  zealous  for 
the  welfare  of  our  neighbours'  children  as  for  the  wel- 
fare of  our  own,  and  should  work  as  hard  to  secure  it. 
How  otherwise  can  Justice  and  Equality  be  meted  out 
to  everybody,  and  how  otherwise  can  we  all  get  our 
Eights?" 

At  the  sound  of  the  word  "Rights,"  the  servants  burst 
into  loud  and  continued  cheering.  For,  as  I  have  said, 
many  of  them  had  been  badly  treated.  Indeed  some  of 
them  had  not  long  discovered  that  they  had  any 
"Rights,"  and  the  mere  pronouncement  of  the  simple 
word  "Rights"  had  the  same  effect  upon  them  that  a 
strong  dose  of  neat  brandy  has  upon  a  strict  teetotaler. 

"This  baleful  habit  of  living  in  our  own  separate 
homes,"  the  speaker  went  on,  "encourages  us  to  take  a 
pride  in  them,  to  keep  up  a  large  number  of  servants, 
and  to  furnish  them  in  a  better  style  than  our  neigh- 
bours can  afford.  It  leads  to  rivalry  and  display,  and 
provokes  our  neighbours  in  smaller  and  shabbier  houses 


184  Patriotism  and 

to  discontent  and  envy,  and  moves  them  to  stir  up  a 
town  fight  that  they  may  get  some  plunder.  And, 
again,  this  evil  habit  of  living  in  separate  homes,  pre- 
vents us  from  mixing  freely  with  our  neighbours,  from 
adopting  their  habits,  sympathizing  with  their  aspira- 
tions, and  overcoming  our  prejudices  against  their  mor- 
als and  complexions.  It  keeps  us  from  understanding 
each  other,  and  from  forming  one  large  happy  family 
in  one  large  happy  home.  But  above  all,  this  pernicious 
habit  of  living  in  separate  houses,  is  the  cause  of  the 
great  waste  of  our  energies  and  resources,  and  of  the 
consequent  economic  distress  that  prevails  throughout 
the  town.  For  it  forces  us  to  keep  up  forty-six  different 
establishments,  each  with  its  own  set  of  servants,  who 
have  to  provide  forty-six  separate  services  of  meals,  and 
perform  a  vast  amount  of  drudgery — "  (There  was  a 
buzz  of  approbation  from  the  servants,  which  grew  into 
ringing  cheers) — "Drudgery  that  would  be  quite  un- 
necessary if  we  were  all  members  of  one  large  house- 
hold." 

The  excitement  among  the  servants  increased.  The 
plan  that  Mr.  Fervent  Impossiblist  proposed  appeared 
so  desirable  to  them,  that  without  waiting  for  him  to 
disclose  any  further  particulars,  they  began  to  form 
groups  to  discuss  how  they  could  put  it  into  immediate 
execution. 

"Now  I  propose,"  continued  the  orator,  "to  make  a 
clean  sweep  of  all  this  prejudice  and  misunderstand- 
ing between  different  families,  all  this  quite  unnecessary 
envy  and  hatred  and  greed,  all  this  ill-usage  of  servants, 
all  this  economic  waste  and  misery — I  propose  to  abol- 
ish it  all  from  this  time  forth.  Let  us  pull  down  these 
rotten  old  tenements,  these  nests  of  family  pride  and 
selfishness,  these  breeding  places  of  jealousy  and  covet- 


Popular  Education  185 

ousness  and  strife,  these  nurseries  of  intrigue  and  am- 
bition, these  a,hodes  of  tyranny,  these  haunts  of  domes- 
tic oppression " 

A  frenzied  shout  of  applause  rose  from  the  throats 
of  the  servants. 

"Let  us  raze  them  to  the  ground !" 

Some  of  the  servants  started  off  to  find  hammers  and 
other  instruments  of  destruction. 

"Let  us  build  one  large  brand  new  home  for  us  all  to 
live  in,  with  every  comfort  and  convenience  for  each 
one  of  us,  with  one  large  table  for  us  all  to  partake  of 
our  meals  in  common,  one  large  kitchen  to  cook  for  us 
all,  one  large  bath-room  for  those  of  us  who  may  be 
disposed  to  use  it,  one  large  fireside  for  us  all  to  gather 
round  in  the  evening.  And  as  for  servants,  let  us  all 
wait  upon  one  another " 

This  was  enough.  All  the  discontented  folk  of  the 
town,  and  these  formed  the  great  majority,  rushed  off 
to  ransack  and  destroy  their  neighbours'  houses. 

While  Mr.  Fervent  Impossiblist  was  explaining  his 
plan  to  some  of  the  citizens  who  were  a  little  doubtful 
as  to  its  feasibility,  and  were  pressing  him  for  further 
details,  a  raging  mob  had  begun  to  batter  down  the 
strongest  and  most  substantial  buildings  in  the  main 
street.  The  riot  lasted  for  several  days  and  nights,  and 
was  the  most  furious  and  bloody  and  destructive  that 
the  town  had  ever  known.  For  as  I  have  said,  and  must 
repeat,  many  of  the  servants  had  been  badly  treated  and 
oppressed,  and  all  of  them  were  determined  to  get  their 
Rights.  And  this  general  sense  of  being  ill-used  and 
kept  out  of  their  Rights,  had  fostered  in  them  a  hatred 
of  the  very  walls  and  furniture  of  the  houses  where  they 
had  suffered,  and  where  many  of  them  had  been  born 
and  had  lived  all  their  lives.  Indeed  most  of  them 


186  Patriotism  and 

supposed  that  the  walls  and  furniture  were  in  some 
way  largely  accountable  for  their  sufferings.  They 
therefore  derived  great  satisfaction  from  wreaking  their 
vengeance  upon  the  scenes  and  implements  of  their 
servitude.  And  when  once  they  had  become  inflamed 
with  the  lust  of  destruction,  they  did  not  limit  their  ac- 
tivities to  the  walls  and  furniture  that  had  offended 
them,  but  continued  to  batter  and  demolish  everything 
that  came  within  their  reach,  leaving  not  a  post  stand- 
ing upright,  or  one  brick  cemented  to  another.  Nor 
did  they  cease  till  the  town  was  half  wrecked,  and  till 
all  the  stores  of  food  in  it  had  been  consumed. 

There  followed  many  months  of  the  greatest  disorder, 
misery,  and  privation  for  all  the  people  in  the  town,  of 
all  classes.  And  unfortunately  it  was  the  servants  who 
suffered  the  most,  and  endured  the  worst  ills.  For  it 
afterwards  came  to  light,  that  at  an  early  stage  in  the 
meeting,  many  of  the  cunning  well-to-do  people,  fore- 
seeing trouble  and  disturbance  ahead,  had  sneaked  away 
to  their  homes,  and  had  stolen  thence  as  much  food, 
and  as  many  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  as  they  could  lay 
hands  upon,  and  had  hidden  them  in  various  places 
against  the  time  when  they  might  be  in  want.  This  was 
a  very  unsociable  proceeding  on  their  part.  Nor  could 
they  offer  any  better  defence  for  it,  than  the  paltry  ex- 
cuse that  they  did  not  wish  to  starve.  However  it  served 
to  tide  many  of  them  over  the  time  of  cruel  want  and 
misery  that  followed  the  riot,  and  that  lasted  for  months 
after  it  had  been  quelled;  whereas  the  servants,  being 
left  without  any  resources,  suffered  extreme  privations, 
and  many  of  them  perished  miserably. 

After  some  months  of  the  greatest  general  disturb- 
ance, the  town  settled  down  into  comparative  peace  and 
orderly  life.  Those  families  whose  houses  had  not  been 


Popular  Education  187 

demolished  or  irreparably  damaged,  returned  to  occupy 
them,  and  to  make  the  repairs  necessary  to  render  them 
once  more  habitable.  Some  of  the  families  who  found 
themselves  homeless,  became  the  servants  of  their  more 
fortunate  neighbours.  A  few  of  the  servants,  who  had 
seized  the  houses  and  goods  of  their  masters  during  the 
riot,  stoutly  defended  themselves  in  their  stolen  prop- 
erties; and  as  they  could  not  be  ejected  without  great 
further  disturbance,  they  were  allowed  to  remain  in 
possession.  It  was  noticed  that  these  upstarts  showed 
themselves  to  be  more  overbearing  and  tyrannical  than 
the  masters  whom  they  had  displaced. 

But  for  a  long  while,  the  whole  town  lived  in  great 
discomfort  and  poverty  and  misery.  Much  useful  and 
valuable  property  had  been  destroyed,  and  many  beau- 
tiful pieces  of  old  furniture  had  been  broken  to  pieces. 
The  various  families  lived  in  separate  houses,  much  as 
they  had  done  before  the  riot.  But  as  general  distrust 
and  ill-feeling  had  been  engendered,  there  was  much 
less  kindness  and  sociability  and  forbearance  in  the 
general  intercourse  of  the  town.  On  the  whole,  the 
condition  of  things  for  some  years  was  incomparably 
much  worse  than  it  had  ever  been. 

Mr.  Fervent  Impossiblist  continued  to  point  out  to 
the  misguided  community,  that  thisi  atmosphere  of 
quarrreleameness,  and  the  consequent  jarrings  that 
arose  in  all  their  dealings,  were  due  to  the  folly  and  per- 
versity of  the  various  families  who,  in  spite  of  his 
warnings,  would  still  persist  in  living  in  separate 
homes,  instead  of  forming  one  large  united  household 
under  one  roof.  N"or  did  he  cease  to  urge  his  fellow 
citizens  to  break  up  their  exclusive  habits,  and  adopt, 
his  scheme,  as  the  only  cure  for  the  social  abuses  and 
economic  evils  that  afflicted  the  town. 


188  Patriotism  and 

Does  anyone  suppose  that  if  Mr.  Fervent  Impos- 
siblist  had  succeeded  in  building  his  brand  new  town 
home,  and  had  persuaded  all  of  the  citizens  to  inhabit 
it — does  anyone  suppose  that  there  would  not  have  been 
far  more  bitterness,  disorder,  strife,  and  brawling 
amongst  them,  than  when  they  lived  in  their  own  homes, 
or  that  in  less  than  twenty-four  hours  the  place  would 
not  have  been  a  raging  pandemonium  ? 

Does  anyone  suppose  that  the  various  nations  of  the 
earth,  in  their  present  stages  of  development,  with  their 
irreconcilable  diversities  of  all  kinds,  can  live  peace- 
ably under  some  artificial  form  of  unified  central  gov- 
ernment, where  supreme  power  will  presumably  be 
lodged  in  the  hands  of  a  mixed  Committee?  Does 
anyone  suppose  that  such  a  state  of  world  civilization 
can  be  realized,  or  even  that  any  approach  can  be  made 
towards  it,  until  four-fifths  of  us  have  changed  our 
rooted  habits  and  propensities,  our  ways  of  living  and 
thinking,  our  social  and  moral  standards,  our  religious 
beliefs,  our  facial  angles,  and  our  complexions? 

Internationalists  will  doubtless  say  that  they  do 
not  at  present  propose  to  establish  a  unified  central  gov- 
ernment that  will  arrange  and  direct  the  world's  affairs. 
There  are  many  degrees  and  kinds  of  Internationalism. 
The  term  covers  widely  differing  sets  of  opinions.  If 
its  discordant  votaries  were  pressed  to  give  a  strict  defi- 
nition of  its  meaning,  most  of  them  would  probably  re- 
ply with  the  unquestioned  authority  of  Humpty  Dump- 
ty  himself,  "When  I  use  a  word,  it  means  exactly  what 
I  choose  it  to  mean — no  more  and  no  less." 

These  varying  sects  of  Internationalists  are  more 
or  less  allied,  and  are  in  some  cases  identical,  with 
varying  and  discordant  sects  of  revolutionary  Social- 
ists. The  general  scheme  and  aim  of  them  all,  so  far 


Popular  Education  189 

as  it  can  be  discovered  and  stated  in  one  compact  for- 
mula, is  to  gain  increasing  control  and  management  of 
International  relations  and  transactions,  and  gradually 
to  sap  and  supplant  the  established  governments  of  the 
world,  by  making  them  subject  in  all  their  foreign  af- 
fairs to  a  supreme  central  tribunal,  elected  by  the  pre- 
ponderant vote  of  the  working  classes  of  all  the  peoples.. 
If  that  is  not  their  general  scheme  and  aim,  will  Inter- 
nationalists tell  us  what  clear,  practicable,  constructive 
world  plan  they  have  in  their  minds,  and  by  what  prac- 
ticable means  they  propose  to  carry  it  out?  For  the 
moment,  and  until  I  can  make  a  further  examination, 
I  will  use  the  term  "Internationalism"  to  signify  a  defi- 
nite purpose  to  attain  the  two  objectives  I  have  marked 
out.  And  I  will  assume  that  the  various  sects  of  Inter- 
nationalists are  so  far  united,  as  to  recognize  that  they 
are  working  to  reach  these  two  objectives. 

Probably  a  great  majority  of  them  suppose  that  this 
vast  unification  of  human  society  can  be  brought  about 
by  peaceable  methods ;  or  at  worst  that  it  will  be  attend- 
ed by  a  quite  inconsiderable  amount  of  actual  fighting. 
Surely  of  all  the  delusions  that  have  possessed  mankind, 
this  is  the  grossest  and  most  dangerous.  So  far  as  In- 
ternationalism has  been  operative,  it  has  everywhere 
shown  itself  to  be  the  agent  of  confusion,  disintegration, 
hatred,  strife,  anarchy,  and  bloodshed. 

This  must  necessarily  be  so.  Every  social  structure 
that  has  proved  itself  strong  enough  to  shelter  a  nation, 
and  to  preserve  it  from  internal  disruption  and  external 
assault,  has  its  foundations  laid  deep  down  in  past  his- 
tory, and  each  of  its  successive  stories  has  been  built 
to  suit  the  necessities,  habits,  industrial  activities,  men- 
tal and  moral  capacities,  and  religious  beliefs  of  that 
particular  nation.  Internationalism  strikes  athwart  all 


190  Patriotism  and 

these  structures,  cracks  their  walls,  shakes  their  stabil- 
ity, and  aims  at  pulling  them  down,  obliterating  all  their 
divisions  and  boundaries,  and  reducing  them  all  to  one 
common  level. 

I  do  not  say  that  in  some  far  remote  future,  Nature 
may  not  people  this  planet  with  one  pure  race  of  wise 
and  perfect  men.  I  do  not  say  that  Nature  is  not  busy 
even  now  considering  the  advisability  of  such  a  wholly 
beneficial  change,  and  that  She  is  not  even  now  perhaps 
preparing  the  earth  for  the  ultimate  occupation  of  such 
a  race.  I  do  not  know  what  plans  Nature  has  got  in  her 
head.  Therefore  the  spirit  of  prophecy  is  not  upon  me. 

I  do  know  full  surely,  that  in  no  early  or  approximate 
period  of  time,  can  any  effective  system  of  International 
Government  be  firmly  and  lastingly  established  over 
mankind,  without  great  and  wide  confiscation,  disorder, 
misery  amongst  all  classes,  especially  amongst  the  poor- 
est, prolonged  destruction  and  anarchy,  and  the  shedding 
of  torrents  of  blood,  compared  with  which  the  stream 
that  is  now  flowing  might  be  a  mere  rivulet.  They  are 
blind  self-deceivers  who  think  that,  in  the  present  dis- 
position of  the  peoples,  or  in  any  near  future  disposition 
of  the  peoples,  the  efforts  of  revolutionary  International- 
ism will  lead  us  to  Peace.  If  a  long  untroubled  course 
of  Peace  is  what  we  are  seeking,  let  us  not  pursue  it 
through  the  mazes  of  Internationalism,  everywhere  beset 
with  thorns,  and  ambushes,  and  snares,  and  ignes  fatui, 
and  the  lurking  bandits  of  civilization. 

There  are  many  Internationalists  who  openly  pro- 
claim that  they  seek  to  destroy  the  whole  fabric  of  so- 
ciety, by  making  ceaseless  and  violent  war  upon  it.  And 
there  are  weltering  masses  of  mankind  who  are  ready  to 
listen  to  them,  and  to  join  them  in  pillage  and  massa- 
cre, on  the  chance  of  plundering  something  from  the 


I 


Popular  Education  191 

wreck.  Anarchy  cannot  be  met  by  argument.  It  lias 
to  be  shot  down,  or  allowed  to  shoot  itself  down.  And 
this  primary  duty  to  society,  and  to  itself,  it  always  per- 
forms, sooner  or  later. 

But  the  large  body  of  Internationalists  are  averse 
from  actual  warfare.  They  imagine  that  they  can  attain 
their  ends  by  a  gradual  peaceful  usurpation  of  diplo- 
matic functions  and  the  powers  of  foreign  legislation, 
leading  to  the  gradual  absorption  of  existing  govern- 
ments. Many  Internationalists  are  Pacifists  who  con- 
demn all  war  as  unlawful  and  unnecessary.  Yet  some 
of  the  most  confirmed  Pacifists  show  the  warmest  sym- 
pathy with  the  wildest  forms  of  class  warfare  and  an- 
archy. It  is  strange  that  men  who  shudder  at  the  mere 
mention  of  war  between  nations,  and  who  have  villified 
the  most  righteous  cause  for  which  men  have  ever  bled 
—it  is  strange  that  these  turbulent  pettifoggers  should 
encourage  a  blind  and  furious  hatred  between  classes, 
which,  so  far  as  it  is  kept  alive  and  inflamed  to  action, 
can  but  break  into  sporadic  recurrent  warfare,  ending 
in  the  establishment  of  the  cruellest  forms  of  universal 
militarism.  For  the  soldier  always  has  to  be  called  in  at 
the  last.  And  it  is  difficult  to  get  rid  of  him. 

No  doubt  the  great  majority  of  Internationalists 
strongly  deprecate  any  such  united  action  by  their  as- 
sociated groups  in  different  countries,  as  would  provoke 
an  outbreak  of  war.  They  imagine  that  the  tremendous 
transition  from  Patriotic  to  International  Government 
can  be  brought  about  by  voting  for  it — that  is,  by  con- 
vincing the  working  classes,  who  form  the  great  body 
of  the  electorate  in  each  nation,  that  their  interests  are 
identical  with  the  interests  of  the  working  classes  in 
all  the  other  nations,  and  are  opposed  to  the  interests  of 
all  the  other  classes  in  all  the  other  nations. 


192  Patriotism  and 

Is  this  true  ? 

Germany  affirms  that  the  present  war  was  inevitable, 
and  was  brought  about  because  of  the  constant  and  in- 
creasing collision  between  the  economic  and  commercial 
interests  of  England  and  Germany.  How  far  this  may 
have  been  a  contributory  cause  of  the  war,  we  need  not 
stay  to  inquire.  If  the  economic  and  commercial  in- 
terests of  England  and  Germany  were  opposed,  as  un- 
questionably they  were,  then  the  main  interests  of  the 
working  classes  in  each  country  must  have  been  opposed ; 
for  the  welfare  of  the  working  classes  depends  wholly 
upon  economic  and  commercial  conditions  in  each  coun- 
try. That,  before  the  war,  there  was  a.  fundamental  and 
deadly  antagonism  between  the  vital  interests  of  the 
working  classes  of  England  and  Germany,  is  abundant- 
ly proved  by  the  evidence  that  if  Germany  had  not  pro- 
voked the  war,  and  had  been  content  to  pursue  her  can- 
cerous  system  of  peaceful  penetration,  she  would  in  ten 
or  twenty  years  have  gained  control  of  the  most  profit- 
able industries,  and  of  the  chief  markets  of  the  world. 
English  working  men  would  have  been  pushed  into  the 
less  desirable  and  less  lucrative  occupations,  would  have 
multiplied  in  dwindling  numbers  compared  with  Ger- 
man working  men,  and  would  have  suffered  grievous  dis- 
advantages from  these  dominant  competitors.  Undoubt- 
edly this  state  of  increasing  enmity  of  vital  interests  and 
social  welfare  between  English  and  German  working 
men  did  really  exist  before  the  war.  Yet  all  the  time 
English  working  men  were  being  urged  to  make  a  com- 
mon cause  with  the  good  faithful  Scheidemann  and  his 
friends  against  their  common  enemy,  the  capitalist. 

But  who  has  proved  to  be  the  real  enemy  ? 

And  who  will  prove  to  be  real  enemies  of  the  working 
men  of  each  country  in  the  still  fiercer  commercial  war- 


Popular  Education  193 

fare  of  the  next  generation  ?  Will  it  be  the  capitalists 
of  their  own  country,  or  those  working  men  of  other 
countries  who  are  competing  with  them  for  the  neces- 
saries of  existence,  the  most  desirable  employments,  and 
the  easiest  conditions  of  living  ? 

There  is,  indeed,  a  very  real  opposition  between  the 
interests  of  the  capitalist  and  the  working  man  in  any 
trade;  and  in  that  ceaseless  struggle  to  obtain  the  high- 
est reward  for  his  labour,  the  greatest  comfort  for  him- 
self and  his  family,  the  largest  openings  for  social  ad- 
vancement— so  far  as  all  these  are  consistent  with  the 
stability  and  high  civilization  of  the  State — in  this  most 
just  and  most  laudable  endeavour  to  alleviate  in  every 
way  possible  the  hardships  of  his  sharp-set  life,  I  am 
entirely  in  sympathy  with  the  working  man. 

But  is  it  not  becoming  every  day  more  plain,  that 
while  the  interests  of  the  working  man  and  the  capitaf- 
ist  in  any  country  are  opposed  when  they  have  to  bar- 
gain with  each  other,  their  interests  are  mutual  and 
identical  when  they  have  to  bargain  together  against 
the  competing  working  men  and  capitalists  of  other 
countries?  And  the  affairs  and  transactions  in  which 
the  working  men  and  capitalists  of  any  trade  have  a 
fellowship  and  solidarity  of  interest,  are  of  much  greater 
magnitude  and  importance  than  the  domestic  affairs 
and  transactions  in  which  their  interests  are  opposed. 
It  is  obvious  that  the  first  main  interest  of  both  work- 
ing man  and  capitalist,  is  to  keep  alive  and  flourishing 
that  business  upon  which  they  both  depend — the  work- 
ing man  far  more  than  the  capitalist,  who  probably  has 
other  resources.  The  fair  division  of  the  profits  arising 
from  that  business  must  always  be  a  matter  of  secondary, 
importance  to  them  both,  compared  with  the  supreme 
necessity  of  keeping  it  going  as  a  prosperous  concern. 


194  Patriotism  and 

For  if  the  business  languishes  and  perishes,  they  both 
languish  and  perish — the  working  man  certainly,  the 
capitalist  unless  he  has  made  other  provision.  It  is  the 
working  man  who  is  most  accessible  to  the  assaults  of 
misfortune,  always  and  everywhere.  No  juggling  with 
social  and  political  economy  will  ever  alter  this  fact. 
And  seeing  how  easily  accessible  to  misfortune  our  work- 
ing classes  are,  how  every  national  mistake  and  calam- 
ity are  in  the  end  visited  chiefly  and  most  harshly  upon 
them,  it  is  of  the  first  importance  that  we  should  dis- 
cern where  their  true  interests  lie,  and  how  they  may 
best  be  secured. 

It  is  for  the  working  classes  of  our  own  Empire  that 
I  am  concerned.  They  are  right  in  looking  upon  the 
capitalists  of  their  own  country  as  their  enemies,  so  far 
as  the  capitalists  are  neglectful  of  them,  and  bent  upon 
"exploiting"  them  merely  for  profit.  They  are  wrong  in 
looking  upon  the  capitalists  of  their  own  country,  even 
at  the  worst,  as  their  chief  enemies.  The  inevitable  con- 
flict of  interests  between  the  working  men  and  capital- 
ists in  each  industry  in  each  country,  is  a  minor  an- 
tagonism compared  with  their  mutual  conflict  of  inter- 
ests with  the  interests  of  competing  working  men  and 
capitalists  in  the  same  industry  in  other  countries.  It 
is  to  the  perception  of  this  essential  permanent  com- 
munity of  interest  between  the  capitalists  and  the  work- 
ing men  in  each  of  our  industries,  that  we  must  look  for 
the  liquidation  of  our  enormous  national  debt,  and  for 
the  gradual  return  to  our  former  prosperity  and  easy 
means  of  livelihood. 

Surely  if  the  war  has  taught  us  anything,  it  has 
taught  us  that  the  stability  and  welfare  of  the  State  is 
the  chief  interest  of  us  all.  Now  Internationalism  not 
only  strikes  athwart  and  splits  asunder  the  social  struc- 


Popular  Education  195 

ture  of  eacli  country  in  its  diplomatic  and  foreign  re- 
lations; it  also  strikes  athwart  and  splits  asunder  the 
social  structure  of  each  country  in  its  economic  and 
commercial  relations.  It  works  to  bring  confusion  and 
strife  into  all  our  internal  activities,  and  commercial 
disadvantage  into  all  our  dealings  with  other  countries. 
If  the  masses  of  our  people  are  taught  that  they  owe 
their  chief  allegiance  to  a  nebulous  International  State 
which  does  not  exist;  which  in  no  discernible  period 
of  time  is  likely  to  exist;  which,  as  the  world  is  now 
constituted,  cannot  be  brought  into  existence  without  a 
long  intervening  reign  of  anarchy  and  bloodshed;  and 
which  in  the  meantime  can  offer  them  no  better  se- 
curity and  protection  than  is  afforded  by  rhetoric  and 
phrases  and  false  idealisms — if  the  masses  of  our  peo- 
ples are  taught  this  as  the  first  article  of  their  political 
creed,  how  can  they  be  good  citizens  of  their  own  coun- 
try, and  fulfil  their  duties  to  the  State  which  does  ac- 
tually give  them  security  and  protection,  and  this  in 
the  measure  to  which  they  render  it  their  undivided 
allegiance  and  support,  and  in  the  measure  that  it  is 
firmly  established,  not  in  the  void,  but  on  this  actual 
earth ;  standing  on  its  own  basis ;  compact  with  its  own 
limits;  a  social  structure,  strong  and  enduring  because 
it  is  distinct  from  all  other  social  structures — rather, 
shall  we  say,  a  living  social  organism,  capable  of  carry- 
ing on  its  internal  and  external  functions,  capable  of 
growth  and  development,  because  it  is  distinct  from  all 
other  living  social  organisms? 

Here  I  feel  bound  to  make  a  handsome  concession 
to  Internationalists,  and  frankly  to  own  that  each  of 
them  would  be  right  in  a  world  of  his  own  making,  and 
that  in  such  a  world  his  advice  and  direction  would  be 
of  enormous  benefit  to  the  entire  population.  But  I 


196  -Patriotism  and 

am  now  writing  of  the  actual  world  in  which  we  live, 
and  not  of  our  vast  new  inheritance,  where  large  de- 
licious omelettes  will  grow  on  every  tree,  and  where  all 
other  desirable  things  will  he  provided  for  us  hy  similar 
methods. 

Russia  is  now  offering  us  an  example  of  practical 
Internationalism  in  full  working  disorder.  The  avowed 
aims  of  Internationalists  were  proclaimed  in  Russia  on 
the  fall  of  the  Czar — to  destroy  aggressive  military  pow- 
er hy  talking  to  it ;  to  clear  the  earth  of  dark  upas  trees 
of  race  hatred,  national  jealousy  and  ambition,  by  plant- 
ing buttercups  and  daisies  round  their  roots;  to  quell 
the  greedy  impulses  and  predatory  instincts  of  the  mul- 
tiplying millions  of  mankind,  by  telling  them  that  all 
is  legally  theirs  that  they  choose  to  take;  and  having 
by  these  means  brought  about  a  state  of  universal  har- 
mony and  prosperity,  to  ensure  its  continuance  by  deal- 
ing out  equal  coupons  of  happiness  to  everybody. 

This  was  what  Internationalism  set  out  to  do  in  Rus- 
sia. What  it  has  really  done  is  to  give  to  everybody 
an  equal  right  to  plunder  everybody  else,  and  an  equal 
right  to  cut  anybody's  throat.  So  far  have  International 
principles  prevailed  in  securing  equality  of  opportunity 
in  Russia.  Is  it  not  evident  that  the  government  of 
the  Czar,  foul  and  detestable  as  it  was,  did  yet  offer  far 
greater  protection  and  comfort,  and  far  better  cond- 
tions  of  living  to  the  Russian  people;  that  it  was  im- 
measurably less  corrupt,  less  cruel,  less  tyrannical,  less 
bereft  of  political  instinct,  less  madly  subversive  of  all 
the  foundations  of  human  society  ? 

But  Internationalists  hailed  the  advent  of  Bolshe- 
vism with  great  joy.  Mr.  H.  G.  Wells  said  it  was  "our 
duty  and  an  urgent  necessity  to  get  a  grip  upon  the 
situation."  He  set  out  to  get  a  grip  upon  the  situa- 


Popular  Education  197 

tion.  When  he  had  got  a  grip  upon  the  situation,  he 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Bolshevists  were 
"straight" ;  that  they  were  "prohahly  honest"  (they  had 
just  repudiated  their  national  debt)  ;  that  they  were 
"shining  clear" ;  that  they  were  "profoundly  wise,"  in- 
deed, "altogether  wiser  and  plainer  than  our  own 
rulers."  He  declared  that  their  aims  were  the  same  as 
our  own.  He  was  of  opinion  that  their  "mental  and 
moral  methods  against  German  militarism  might  prove 
more  powerful  than  the  military  method."  He  claimed 
that  Bolshevist  diplomacy  was  altogether  superior  to 
our  muddling  Foreign  Office  dilettantism,  the  Bolshe- 
vists being  "much  better  educated"  than  our  own  diplo- 
matists, who  wore  "ignorant  and  limited"  men,  "crudely 
ignorant  of  the  world  of  modern  ideas" ;  whereas  the 
Bolshevist  leaders  were  "intimately  acquainted  with  the 
Labour  movement,  with  social  and  economic  questions, 
and  with  almost  everything  that  really  mattered  in  real 
politics."  The  Bolshevists  were  working  their  end  so 
well,  that  Mr.  Wells  urged  us  to  consider  the  advisa- 
bility of  a  systematic  co-operation  with  them  in  their 
"profoundly  wise"  policy.  Thus  did  Mr.  Wells  get  a 
grip  upon  the  situation  in  Russia. 

Can  human  imagination  conceive  our  plight  to-day, 
if  our  rulers  had  followed  Mr.  Wells' s  advice,  and  had 
incorporated  the  cause  of  the  Allies  with  that  filthy  mass 
of  corruption,  fraud,  massacre,  disease,  and  anarchy 
which  now  festers  in  the  vitals  of  the  Russian  people? 
How  thankful  we  may  be  that  our  Foreign  Office  is 
filled  with  limited,  ignorant,  uneducated  men,  who,  not 
possessing  Mr.  Wells' s  "clarity,"  and  being  "crudely  ig- 
norant" in  Mr.  Wells's  "world  of  modern  ideas,"  could 
not  get  a  grip  upon  the  situation. 

But  Mr.  Wells  claims  that  his  Internationalist  Bol- 


198  Patriotism  and 

shevist  friends  are  intimately  acquainted  with  "social 
and  economic  questions,  and  indeed  with  almost  every- 
thing that  really  matters  in  real  politics."  The  Bol- 
shevists estimated  the  national  expenditure  for  their 
first  six  months  at  £2,450,000,000 — about  five  thousand 
millions  for  the  year.  This  is  what  comes  of  being 
"intimately  acquainted  with  social  and  economic  ques- 
tions." And  nobody  knew  where  the  money  had  gone ! 
In  the  "world  of  modern  ideas"  it  seems  that  "every- 
thing that  really  matters  in  real  politics"  is  for  every- 
body to  fill  his  pockets  with  as  much  public  money  as 
he  can  lay  his  hands  on. 

We  notice  with  some  alarm  that  a  knowledge  of  "so- 
cial and  economic  questions"  is  spreading  amongst  our 
own  masses,  and  that  they  also  are  rapidly  becoming 
"intimately  acquainted  with  everything  that  really  mat- 
ters in  real  politics."  With  such  startling  evidence,  as 
is  afforded  by  Russian  Internationalists,  of  the  disaster 
that  attends  the  study  of  social  and  economic  questions 
in  Mr.  Wells' s  "world  of  modern  ideas,"  I  implore  you 
sir,  to  forbid  all  such  study  in  our  English  schools,  and 
to  substitute  a  prolonged  study  of  the  sixth,  eighth,  and 
tenth  commandments,  and  of  their  effects  upon  man- 
kind. There  seems  to  be  some  reason  for  suspecting 
that,  in  the  present  state  of  our  affairs,  the  command- 
ments would  offer  a  more  profitable  course  of  study 
than  social  and  economic  questions.  For  the  command- 
ments have  proved  their  value  in  guiding  and  keeping, 
in  some  sort  of  order,  those  communities  that  have  prac- 
tised them  during  some  thousands  of  years;  whereas 
the  study  of  social  and  economic  questions — "in  a  world 
of  modern  ideas" — has  proved  to  be  ruinous  to  a  great 
Empire  in  six  months.  I  am  sure  you  will  agree  with 
me,  sir,  that  no  country  in  the  long  run  suffers  an  eco- 


Popular  Education  199 

nomic  injury  from  a  scrupulous  observance  of  the  sixth, 
eighth,  and  tenth  commandments.  At  any  rate,  let  us 
take  care  to  be  well  grounded  in  these  commandments 
before  we  begin  to  study  social  economic  questions. 
For  here  again  we  are  forcibly  reminded  that  it  is  by 
the  practice  of  great,  simple,  ancient  rules  of  conduct, 
rather  than  by  the  diffusion  of  Mr.  Wells7 s  modern 
ideas,  that  nations  wax  great  and  strong,  and  show 
themselves  invulnerable  to  external  assault  and  internal 
decay. 

Having  got  a  grip  upon  the  situation  in  Russia,  Mr. 
Wells  next  proceeded  to  get  a  grip  upon  the  situation 
in  Africa.  This  was  not  a  task  of  great  difficulty ;  for 
fifteen  days  after  he  had  invited  us  to  back  up  Inter- 
nationalism in  Russia,  Mr.  Wells  invited  us  to  set  up 
Internationalism  all  over  Africa.  What  had  proved  so 
salutary  for  benighted  Russia,  would  be  also  salutary  for 
benighted  Africa. 

We  remember  that  the  eminent  physician,  Sangrado, 
had  but  one  medicine  for  all  diseases — hot  water.  When 
an  epidemic  came,  and  all  his  patients  died,  he  still 
stuck  to  hot  water.  In  vain  did  Gil  Bias  suggest  to  him 
that,  as  all  the  patients  were  dying,  it  might  be  ad- 
visable to  give  them  a  chance  of  recovery  by  trying  some 
other  remedy.  Sangrado  replied  that  he  would  will- 
ingly change  his  treatment,  but  that  he  had  written  a 
book  to  prove  that  hot  water  was  the  correct  specific 
for  all  diseases.  He  could  not  be  expected  to  stultify 
himself,  merely  because  his  patients  were  dying  un- 
der his  hot-water  treatment.  Mr.  Wells  has  written  so 
much  to  prove  that  International  hot  water  is  the  pan- 
acea for  all  political  diseases,  that  he  can  scarcely  be 
expected  to  change  his  treatment,  merely  because  it  has 
disastrous  effects  in  all  countries  where  it  is  tried.  At 


200  Patriotism  and 

any  rate,  fortified  by  the  spectacle  of  what  Interna- 
tionalism had  accomplished  in  Russia,  Mr.  Wells  pro- 
duced a  brai.d  new  International  constitution  for  the 
whole  continent  of  Africa, 

I  do  not  know  much  about  Africa,  except  that  there 
are  large  numbers  of  black  people  in  the  middle  of  it. 
I  cannot  pretend  to  say  what  medicine  would  be  best 
suited  to  their  political  diseases.  Mr.  Wells  proposes 
International  hot  water.  He  would  put  the  entire  popu- 
lation of  the  Continent  under  an  International  Com- 
mission, in  which  the  interested  nations,  Africander, 
British,  Belgian,  Egyptian,  French,  Italian,  Indian, 
Portuguese,  would  be  represented  in  proportion  to  their 
interests.  Whether  Germany  would  come  in,  is  for  Ger- 
many to  consider.  Given  a  new  spirit  in  Germany,  Mr. 
Wells  would  restore  the  German  flag  in  East  Africa. 
Leaving  Germany  to  consider  whether  she  would  like  to 
return  to  East  Africa,  and  feeling  sure  that  she  will 
readily  oblige  Mr.  Wells  and  get  a  new  spirit  for  the 
ocoasion — leaving  this  question,  we  may  ask  who  is  to 
say,  even  roughly,  what  are  the  respective  proportions 
of  the  interests  of  all  the  other  nations?  How  is  this 
very  thorny  question  to  be  decided  ?  By  voting,  or  by 
fighting?  These  are  the  only  two  methods  by  which 
large  conflicting  interests  can  be  settled.  And  though 
voting  is  the  method  which  we  all  greatly  prefer,  there 
always  comes  a  time,  sooner  or  later,  when  voting  does 
not  settle  vital  interests  that  are  in  permanent  conflict, 
but  only  complicates  them  the  more.  And  then  the  sol- 
dier has  to  be  called  in — which  is  what  we  all  wish  to 
avoid.  Does  not  Mr.  Wells  see  that  the  mere  attempt 
to  settle  what  proportion  of  interests  each  nation  ha8 
in  Africa,  and  what  amount  of  representation  on  his 
Committee  should  be  allotted  to  each  of  them,  is  beset 


Popular  Education  201 

with  provocations  to  International  strife?  That  is, 
it  tends  to  cause  the  very  evil  that  he  would  set  up  his 
Commission  to  prevent. 

But  granting  that  his  Commission  could  be  amicably 
constituted,  what  are  the  chances  that  it  would  work 
successfully,  and  secure  the  peaceful  development  of 
Africa  without  constant  International  friction?  Mr. 
Wells  would  permit  the  French  flag  still  to  wave  over 
Senegal,  and  the  British  flag  to  wave  over  Uganda, 
while,  in  the  sweet  by-and-by,  the  German  flag  may 
wave  over  East  Africa.  So  much  deference  would  Mr. 
Wells  pay  to  the  various  flags.  He  would  allow  them 
to  wave,  and  perhaps  occasionally  to  flap.  Presumably 
this  would  be  an  honorary  and  ornamental  occupation 
for  the  flags.  Their  business  would  be  to  wave  and 
flap.  For  the  supreme  authority  in  Africa  would  be 
vested  in  Mr.  Wells's  International  Commission. 

Now  a  national  flag  is  itself  the  symbol  of  supreme 
authority.  When  the  Union  Jack  flies  over  a  district, 
it  is  a  notice  that  all  the  military  and  naval  power,  and 
all  the  resources  of  the  British  Empire  will,  if  neces- 
sary, be  employed  to  resist  any  challenge  to  that  su- 
preme authority.  The  British  flag  has  not  braved  the 
battle  and  the  breeze  for  a  thousand  years,  has  not  hung 
in  the  smoke  of  Trafalgar,  and  soared  in  the  glare  of 
Delhi  and  signalled  beneficent  rule  and  protection  and 
prosperous  order  to  the  inhabitants  of  a  quarter  of  the 
globe — it  has  not  done  this  in  the  past  to  be  condemned 
henceforth  to  flutter  idly  in  the  circumambient  air,  and 
flirt  with  the  passing  zephyrs.  Yet  this  is  the  function 
that  Mr.  Wells  assigns  to  the  British  flag  in  his  Afri- 
can constitution. 

Does  he  say  that  he  would  allow  it  some  measure  of 
authority,  and  some  privileges,  in  the  regions  over  which 


202  Patriotism  and 

it  waves  and  flaps?  How  much  authority  and  what 
privileges  ?  Would  Mr.  Wells  allow  it  a  small  measure 
of  authority,  a  few  privileges,  and  very  limited  powers 
of  jurisdiction  ?  Then  he  makes  the  British  flag  ridicu- 
lous in  our  own  colonies.  Would  he  allow  it  a  large 
measure  of  authority,  many  privileges,  and  large  powers 
of  jurisdiction?  Then  he  brings  the  British  flag  into 
constant  collision  with  the  supreme  authority  of  his 
Commission.  Who  is  to  define  what  privileges,  what 
scope  of  action,  what  measure  of  authority,  are  to  be 
permitted  to  the  British  Government  in  the  administra- 
tion of  our  African  possessions?  Mr.  Wells  would 
doubtless  reply  that  this  must  be  left  to  the  decision 
of  his  Commission.  Surely  he  must  see  that  the  mere 
attempt  to  arrive  at  any  workable  agreement  would  scat- 
ter his  Commission  to  the  winds. 

But  Mr.  Wells  himself  goes  on  to  expose  the  mis- 
chievous impracticability  of  his  proposed  constitution 
for  Africa,  by  likening  it  to  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States.  The  stability  of  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment is  assured  by  the  national  flag  which  floats  over 
them  all,  and  has  equal  authority  over  them  all.  The 
Stars  and  Stripes  does  not  merely  wave  and  flap  over 
America  in  submission  to  the  rulings  of  an  Interna- 
tional Commission,  and  alongside  half-a-dozen  other 
languid  strips  of  bunting.  The  lively,  vigorous  Stars 
and  Stripes  waves  to  some  purpose  at  Washington.  It 
means  business.  It  binds  all  the  people  of  the  different 
States  in  the  defence  of  their  country,  and  gives  them 
all  equal  protection  against  external  assault,  because 
they  are  all  equally  citizens  of  that  country,  and  have 
common  national  interests,  which  are  in  many  ways  op 
posed  to  the  interests  of  other  nations. 

Mr.  Wells' s  African  constitution  would  be  unstable, 


Popular  Education  203 

because  the  inhabitants  of  its  different  States  would  not 
be  united  under  one  supreme  centralized  government, 
as  are  the  people  of  the  United  States  at  Washington ; 
would  not  live  under  one  common  national  flag  giving 
them  equal  protection  as  citizens  of  one  common  coun- 
try, having  national  interests  in  common.  They  would 
not  be  united  in  the  common  defence  of  their  posses- 
sions, or  probably  about  anything  at  all.  Mr.  Wells'a 
analogy  is  not  merely  transparently  false;  it  proves, 
most  aptly  and  absolutely,  the  radical  unsoundness  and 
impracticability  of  his  whole  scheme;  and  incidentally 
of  all  kindred  schemes  for  the  International  govern- 
ment of  diverse  races  and  peoples.  I  will  credit  Mr. 
Wells  with  the  perspicacity  to  recognize  this  very  ol> 
vious  fact. 

In  any  case,  Mr.  Wells  would  set  up  a  divided  au- 
thority all  over  Africa,  than  which  no  form  of  govern- 
ment could  be  more  unstable,  more  certain  to  provoke 
irritation,  confusion,  and  strife.  Internationalism 
would  be  found  again  to  bring  forth  its  natural  fruits, 
as  soon  as  it  attempted  to  claim  supreme  authority.  And 
sooner  or  later,  the  soldier  would  have  to  be  called  in — • 
which  is  what  we  all  wish  to  avoid. 

I  am  far  from  saying  that  temporary  international 
commissions,  with  strictly  defined,  quite  limited,  and 
quite  subordinate  powers,  might  not  be  beneficially  ap- 
pointed to  report  upon,  and  perhaps  to  take  action,  in 
certain  sanitary,  medical,  and  other  matters,  wherein 
all  the  nations,  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  Africa  have  a 
common  interest.  But  this  is  a  very  different  thing 
from  a  permanent  surrender  of  all  the  main  functions 
of  government  to  a  super-potent  International  Commis- 
sion, such  as  Mr.  Wells  proposes  to  establish. 

Meantime  I  beseech  Mr.  Wells,  for  the  sake  of  the 


204  Patriotism  and 

native  populations,  for  the  sake  of  the  peaceful  devel- 
opment of  the  dark  continent,  and  above  all,  for  the 
sake  of  his  own  reputation  as  a  political  thinker,  to 
leave  the  international  affairs  of  Africa  in  the  hands 
of  our  diplomatists  at  the  Foreign  Office.  It  is  true 
that,  unlike  his  Bolshevist  friends,  they  have  often 
shown  themselves  to  be  not  "profoundly  wise."  Oc- 
casionally they  have  made  mistakes,  as  we  must  all  sor- 
rowfully acknowledge.  It  is  true  that  they  are  "lim- 
ited, uneducated"  persons,  compared  with  the  present 
rulers  of  Russia,  who  "know  all  about  social  and  eco- 
nomic questions,"  and  who  in  all  other  matters  are  ab- 
solutely "beyond  the  limit."  It  is  true  again,  that  our 
diplomatists  have  not  Mr.  Wells's  "clarity"  of  judg- 
ment, and  that  they  have  a  different  standard  of  "prob- 
able honesty"  from  that  erected  by  the  Soviets.  Our 
Foreign  Office  officials  are  guilty  of  all  these  deficien^ 
cies.  But  they  have  the  immense  advantage  of  being 
"crudely  ignorant"  in  Mr.  Wells' s  "world  of  modern 
ideas."  And  this  of  itself  is  a  high  qualification  for 
handling  affairs  in  any  part  of  the  globe. 

I  am,  however,  a  little  dubious  about  asking  Mr. 
Wells  to  relax  his  grip  upon  the  situation  in  Africa. 
For,  with  his  passion  for  getting  grips  upon  situations, 
no  continent  is  safe  from  his  superintendence.  He  may 
next  tighten  his  grasp  upon  Europe,  and  stretch  it  over 
Asia,  and  South  America,  and  the  Solomon  Islands — 
so  named,  I  believe,  because  the  inhabitants  are  wise 
enough  to  devote  themselves  exclusively  to  the  study  of 
the  Book  of  Proverbs,  and  to  eschew  social  and  economic 
questions,  and  what  goes  on  in  "the  world  of  modern 
ideas."  It  follows  from  this,  that  most  of  them  are  even 
more  "limited  and  uneducated,"  more  "crudely  ignor- 
ant" than  our  Foreign  Office  Staff.  Indeed  the  Solo- 


Popular  Education  205 

mon  Islanders  know  next  to  nothing  of  "what  really 
matters  in  real  politics."  The  Solomon  Islands  would 
therefore  appear  to  offer  Mr.  Wells  a  situation  full  of 
possibilities,  and  I  am  apprehensive  that  he  may  be 
tempted  to  get  his  next  grip  upon  them.  And  I  feel 
sure  he  will  again  prescribe  International  hot  water  as 
a  remedy  for  their  social  evils. 

We  all  remember  how  delightfully  Mr.  Wells  pro- 
phesied to  us  about  machines,  and  how  vividly  he  fore- 
told the  war  in  the  air.  Would  that  he  had  remained 
content  with  prophesying  about  machines!  Unfor- 
tunately he  went  on  to  prophesy  about  mankind.  Now 
machines  offer  a  relatively  safe  subject  to  prophesy 
about,  for,  within  rather  wide  limits,  they  may  be 
trusted  to  behave  in  a  manner  that  approaches  to  the 
design  of  their  constructor.  But  mankind  are  not  so 
docile  as  machines.  I  know  not  what  may  have  been  the 
design  of  the  Constructor  of  mankind,  but  I  am  some- 
times driven  to  question  whether  mankind  are  behaving 
in  strict  accordance  with  it.  The  behaviour  of  machines 
is  tolerably  consistent,  but  the  behaviour  of  mankind  is 
obstinately  erratic,  and  tragically  baffling.  For  this 
reason,  mankind  are  a  very  risky  and  elusive  subject 
for  prophecy,  and  Mr.  Wells  may  well  be  excused  if 
he  sometimes  goes  astray  in  his  predictions  about  them. 

I  cannot,  however,  agree  with  Mr.  Archibald  Spof- 
forth,  who,  in  his  recently  published  "Noted  English 
Seers,"  places  Mr.  Wells  rather  below  Old  Moore  in  the 
rank  of  prophets.  It  may  be  true,  as  Mr.  Spofforth 
argues,  that  Old  Moore  has  lately  been  more  success- 
ful in  making  lucky  shots  at  futurity.  But  this  is  due, 
not  so  much  to  his  professional  skill  in  prophecy,  as  to 
mere  chance;  and  Mr.  Wells,  who,  it  must  be  owned, 
has  been  a  litttle  unfortunate  in  his  recent  premonstra- 


206  Patriotism  and 

tions,  may  confidently  look  to  the  law  of  averages  to 
put  him  on  a  level  with  Old  Moore  in  this  respect.  We 
must  also  remember  that  Old  Moore  has  been  longer 
in  the  business  than  Mr.  Wells,  and  may  well  have 
profited  from  his  many  past  failures  to  make  events 
tally  with  his  predictions.  Under  one  of  his  hiero- 
glyphics for  1919,  the  elder  prophet  cautiously  remarks, 
"Old  Moore  does  not  say  that  what  we  see  in  the  pic- 
ture will  be  brought  about."  This  modest  and  judi- 
cious attitude  towards  his  own  prognostications,  is  one 
that  might  be  imitated  by  most  prophets  with  great  ad* 
vantage  to  their  reputations.  Would  that  all  our  social 
prophets  had  the  wisdom  and  candour  of  Old  Moore, 
and  an  equal  courage  to  avow  that  what  they  fondly 
dream  may  not  be  realized ! 

Vagueness  and  wiliness  are,  I  take  it,  the  chief  neces- 
sary qualities  for  any  one  who  sets  up  as  a  prophet,  and 
Mr.  Wells  is  a  little  lacking  in  both  these  prime  requi- 
sites for  successful  augury.  However  this  may  be,  I 
cannot  but  think  that  Mr.  Spoiforth,  in  his  lengthy  com- 
parison of  these  two  noted  English  seers,  has  done  Mr. 
Wells  an  injustice  when  he  estimates  him  as  being,  on 
the  whole,  rather  less  trustworthy  in  dealing  with 
world-problems  than  Old  Moore.  I  am  convinced  that 
Time  will  vindicate  Mr.  Wells,  and  that  he  will  finally 
be  adjudged  a  position  amongst  the  major  prophets,  no 
less  worthy,  dignified,  renowned,  and  unassailable,  than 
that  occupied  by  Old  Moore. 

When  we  come  to  the  matter  of  style  and  method,  it 
must  be  conceded  that  Mr.  Wells  cannot  compete  with 
Old  Moore  in  the  management  of  majestic  imagery,  and 
flamboyant  zoology.  I  have  a  weakness  for  gorgeous 
symbolism  in  prophecy.  I  doat  upon  scarlet  ladies  of 


Popular  Education  207 

Babylon  who  frolic  with  seven-headed  beasts;  upon 
great  red  dragons  with  crowns  on  their  heads,  who  stand 
waiting  to  devour  newly-born  babes ;  upon  chimeras  with 
four  faces,  who  go  upon  four  sides,  with  wheels  full  of 
eyes;  upon  bears  whose  ribs  are  in  their  mouths  and 
who  joust  with  four-headed  winged  leopards  while  other 
strange  creatures  with  freakish  and  superfluous  horns 
butt  into  the  fray — the  whole  menagerie  forming  a  kind 
of  sacred  jig-saw  puzzle  for  the  edification  of  devout 
theological  amateurs ;  who,  after  enormous  pains  in  put- 
ting the  pieces  together,  find  that  it  turns  out  to  mean 
exactly  what  they  wish  it  to  mean.  This  is  the  only 
kind  of  prophecy  that  has  met  with  any  great  success  in 
foreshadowing  large  world-movements  and  events.  Ten 
to  one,  something  or  somebody  will  come  along  to  justify 
our  forecast,  if  we  only  make  it  sufficiently  obscure,  and 
wait  long  enough. 

If  Mr.  Wells  has  anything  profound  to  tell  us  about 
the  future  of  Bolshevism,  or  Africa,  or  the  Solomon 
Islands,  cannot  we  persuade  him  to  adopt  this  approved 
method  of  prophecy?  It  offers  so  many  chances  of 
hedging,  if  the  prophet  finds  he  has  made  a  mistake. 
Better  still,  remembering  with  gratitude  his  shrewd  and 
penetrating  studies  of  character  in  "Tono-Bungay"  and 
"Mr.  Polly,"  and  the  many  other  brilliant  and  delight- 
ful things  that  have  come  from  his  pen,  cannot  we  per- 
suade him  to  doff  his  tattered  mantle  of  prophetic  In- 
ternationalism, and  relate  to  us  some  history  of  the 
English  men  and  women  whom  he  knows  so  well?  I 
have  every  sympathy  with  his  prophetic  impulses.  In- 
deed, I  have  prophetic  impulses  myself,  as  I  fear  is  too 
evident.  But  future  events  being  so  capricious,  I  try 
to  restrict  myself  to  that  less  showy  kind  of  prophecy, 


208  Patriotism  and 

which  hazards  a  conjecture,  that  astronomical  and  other 
conditions  being  favourable,  the  sun  will  rise  to-mor- 
row morning. 

I  have  examined  Mr.  Wells's  scheme  for  the  Interna- 
tional government  of  Africa  with  some  circumspection, 
not  because  there  is  the  least  danger  of  its  being  adopted 
by  our  statesmen,  but  because  it  exhibits  the  defects  and 
fallacies  of  most  of  these  schemes  for  the  International 
government  of  mankind.  Their  common .  defect  is  that 
they  are  built  in  vacuous  space,  where  there  are  no  re- 
actions, and  where  many  of  them  hang  together  well 
enough.  When  they  are  brought  down  to  the  solid 
earth,  amongst  actual  conditions,  and  are  applied  to 
living  men  and  women,  they  tumble  to  pieces. 

For  instance,  when  a  general  settlement  is  made  of 
African  affairs  and  African  territory,  surely  the  South 
Africans,  who  have  chiefly  helped  to  win  for  us  the  Ger- 
man colonies,  will  have  a  large  say  in  the  matter.  It 
is  they,  and  not  Mr.  Wells,  who  have  the  right  to  coun« 
sel  British  policy  in  South  and  Central  Africa.  Mr. 
Wells  leaves  their  aims  and  wishes  out  of  the  account. 
It  is  convenient  for  him  to  ignore  them,  because  they 
would  upset  all  his  plans.  Yet,  granted  even  that  hia 
aery  scheme  were  practicable,  it  could  not  even  be 
started  without  the  consent  and  co-operation  of  our 
South  African  empire.  Any  attempt  to  internationalize 
Africa  would  probably  meet  with  opposition  from  the 
South  African  government,  would  increase  disaffection 
in  that  colony,  would  cause  sharp  division  in  the  Im- 
perial councils,  and  would  tend  to  split  to  pieces  the 
British  Empire.  What  would  it  matter  if  the  British 
Empire  were  split  to  pieces,  so  long  as  Mr.  Wells's 
plans  are  not  upset?  So  he  brings  out  his  brand-new 
International  constitution  and,  like  most  other  Inter- 


Popular  Education 


209 


national  projectors,  carefully  closes  his  eyes  to  the  ac- 
tual main  facts  and  conditions.  Thus  does  Mr.  Wells 
get  a  grip  of  the  situation  in  Africa. 

The  fallacy  of  most  of  these  International  projectors 
is,  that  in  looking  after  what  they  suppose  to  be  the 
common  ultimate  interests  of  all  mankind,  they  forget 
or  ignore  that  all  mankind  have  separate  personal  in- 
terests, and  separate  national  interests.  But  the  ma- 
jority of  mankind  will  never  trouble  themselves  about 
the  ultimate  interests  of  all  mankind,  or  about  anything 
but  their  immediate  personal  interests.  Now,  these 
definite,  discernible,  personal  interests  are  clearly  di- 
vergent from,  and  are  opposed  to  most  of  the  personal 
interests  of  the  majority  of  mankind,  and  to  most  of 
the  international  interests  of  mankind.  Equally,  the 
main  national  interests  of  any  people  are  clearly  di- 
vergent from,  and  are  opposed  to,  the  main  national 
interests  of  other  peoples,  and  to  many  international 
interests.  And,  as  I  have  already  shown,  this  oppo- 
sition of  interests  alternately  takes  the  form  of  com- 
mercial conflict,  and  of  actual  war.  If  universal  wis- 
dom and  the  League  of  Nations  prevail,  and  war  ceases 
from  this  time  forth,  then  commercial  warfare  will  be 
all  the  more  fierce  and  deadly.  And  the  victims  of  com- 
mercial warfare  in  the  past,  from  tuberculosis  and  other 
diseases,  and  from  toil,  oppression,  and  starvation,  if 
they  could  be  counted,  would  immensely  outnumber  the 
victims  of  war  in  the  field. 

But  why  not  do  away  with  both  classes  of  victims  in 
the  future  ?  Ah,  to  be  sure,  why  not  ?  Why  not  bring 
in  an  International  Law  making  criminal  all  compe- 
tition and  collision  of  interests,  and  put  the  whole  mat- 
ter under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  Wells?  Mean- 
time, let  us  seek  to  reduce,  by  every  means  in  our  pow- 


210  Patriotism  and 

er,  the  number  of  Loth  classes  of  victims.  But  let  us  not 
think  that  the  coming  commercial  war  will  not  exact 
its  heavy  toll  and  cruel  sacrifice  of  life.  Let  us  not 
dare  to  play  thimble-rig  with  inexorable  facts,  or  to  set 
booby-traps  for  the  Eternal. 

The  majority  of  mankind  have  only  very  rare,  in- 
definite, and  casual  international  interests.  Undoubt- 
edly it  is  to  the  interests  of  us  all  to  live  in  a  wise  and 
perfect  world,  and  to  hasten  the  time  when  we  may 
be  all  citizens  of  such  a  world,  under  a  wise  and  per- 
fect International  government.  Meantime,  the  inter- 
est which  an  Englishman  has  in  sustaining  and  strength- 
ening the  fabric  of  the  British  Empire,  is  greater  and 
more  compulsive  than  the  interest  which  he  has  in  es- 
tablishing a  world  commonwealth.  It  is  also  an  inter- 
est which  is  discernible,  immediate,  palpable.  Eor  in 
the  present  condition  of  things,  it  is  certain  that  a  world 
commonwealth  cannot  be  established  without  a  long  in- 
tervening period  of  revolution,  chaos,  and  bloodshed? 
And  how  can  an  Englishman  be  sure  that  after  the  gen- 
eral  hurly-burly  of  a  social  and  political  world  earth- 
quake, he  may  not  find  himself  in  much  worse  circum- 
stances under  a  Red  flag  which  waves  and  flaps  over 
the  universe,  than  under  the  Union  Jack  which  gave 
him  security  to  make  his  way  in  a  prosperous  and  united 
British  Empire.  His  present  sure  half-loaf  is  better 
than  a  very  doubtful  whole  one ;  and  his  chicken  stewing 
in  a  British  pot,  is  worth  many  more  than  two  of  the 
elusive  Birds  of  Paradise  that  flutter  in  the  bushes 
of  the  International  Garden. 

Further,  Internationalists  always  make  the  mistake 
of  assuming  that  their  schemes  will  be  worked  by  per- 
fectly wise,  honest,  unselfish  statesmen,  superintend- 
ing a  perfectly  wise,  honest,  unselfish  community. 


Popular  Education  211 

Again,  they  are  living  in  a  vacuum,  where  there  are 
no  reactions.  Mr.  Wells  perceives  that  our  Foreign  Of- 
fice is  filled  with  incapable,  uneducated,  crudely  igno- 
rant bunglers,  like  Mr.  Balfour  and  Lord  Robert  Cecil. 
He  would  hustle  them  into  obscurity,  and  replace 
them  by  statesmen  who  would  quickly  "reconstruct" 
this  much  mismanaged  earth,  and  turn  it  into  an  In- 
ternational Utopia — presumably  by  a  process  similar  to 
that  by  which  his  Bolshevist  friends  have  "recon- 
structed" the  Russian  Empire,  and  made  it  such  a  de- 
lightful place  for  all  classes  to  live  in. 

We  all  thankfully  recognize  that  in  the  past  four 
years,  many  British  Labour  members  have  shown  them- 
selves to  be  able,  constructive  statesmen  and  staunch 
patriots,  who  have  rendered  immense  services  to  the 
country  and  the  Allied  cause.  Some  of  them  have  ad- 
ministered Government  departments  with  conspicuous 
ability  and  foresight.  The  present  Food  Controller  is 
only  one  of  many  Labour  statesmen,  to  whom  an  enor- 
mous public  debt  of  gratitude  is  due.  Many  of  these 
Labour  statesmen  will  assuredly  be  offered  responsible 
positions  in  the  next  government.  I  see  no  reason  why  a 
Labour  member  should  not  be  Foreign  Minister,  given 
the  opportunity  to  show  that  he  is  qualified  for  the 
office.  But  by  their  general  training  and  experience, 
Labour  members  will  surely  be  more  profitably  em- 
ployed in  departments  that  deal  with  internal  affairs. 
From  the  nature  of  its  operations,  the  Foreign  Office 
should  not  be  occupied  by  a  statesman  who  avowedly 
represents  a  class,  but  by  one  who  speaks  for  the 
whole  nation. 

Mr.  Wells  would  eject  that  "pretentious  bluffer," 
Lord  Robert  Cecil,  and  would  have  our  foreign  affairs 
administered  on  International  principles  under  instruc- 


212  Patriotism  and 

tions  from  Labour.  He  assumes  that  in  Africa,  as  in 
Russia,  his  International  scheme  would  be  worked  by 
"profoundly  wise,"  honest,  unselfish  statesmen,  with 
no  interests  to  serve  but  those  of  the  International 
State.  He  also  assumes  that  the  whole  population  of 
Africa,  black,  white,  and  colored,  would  wisely  and 
unselfishly  cooperate  with  their  beneficent  rulers  to  the 
same  beneficent  ends.  No  wonder  these  International 
States  are  such  charming  places  to  live  in,  and  their 
projectors  so  popular! 

And  having  arranged  things  so  happily  for  every- 
body, Mr.  Wells,  who  sternly  rebukes  "flag-wagging" 
on  behalf  of  the  British  Empire,  unfurls  a  brand-new 
spacious  banner  of  his  own  device,  the  Sun  of  Africa, 
and  wags  and  waves  it  lustily  over  the  continent  that 
ho  has  so  suddenly  and  marvellously  regenerated  by 
the  simple  process  of  giving  it  a  paper  International 
constitution. 

How  easy  it  is  to  reform  the  world  and  make  every- 
body happy  and  wise  on  paper! 

From  whence  does  Mr.  Wells  propose  to  obtain  that 
constant  supply  of  wise,  unselfish,  honest  statesmen, 
who  alone  could  give  permanent  security  in  Africa  or 
anywhere  else?  He  would  doubtless  reply,  from  the 
ranks  of  Labour.  Is  he  sure  that  even  there  he  might 
not  find  "pretentious  bluffers,"  who,  though  not  so 
"crudely  ignorant"  as  Lord  Robert,  and  much  better 
"acquainted  with  social  and  economic  questions,"  and 
with  "everything  that  really  matters  in  real  politics," 
might  not  be  endowed  with  more  than  a  very  scanty 
measure  of  the  "probable  honesty"  and  "profound 
wisdom"  which  have  been  so  conspicuously  displayed  bv 
his  friends  who  are  regenerating  Russia  on  Interna- 
tional principles  2 


Popular  Education  213 

Has  Mr.  Wells  noticed  the  disquieting  fact,  that 
when  Labour  has  found  a  leader  with  powers  of  con- 
structive statesmanship,  and  foresight,  and  balanced 
judgment,  and  who  therefore  can  promise  it  only 
moderate  and  possible  rations  of  happiness  and  com- 
fort— has  Mr.  Wells  noticed  how  apt  Labour  is  to 
throw  him  aside  in  favour  of  successive  leaders  who 
promise  it  larger  and  larger,  and  ever  more  impossible, 
rations  of  happiness  and  comfort?  Who  are  the  men 
who  finally  come  to  the  top,  and  are  inevitably  chosen 
to  carry  out  such  vast  and  violent  revolutionary 
changes  as  those  which  Mr.  Wells  advocates  ?  Are  they 
ever  responsible  statesmen,  or  even  capable  politicians? 
Are  they  men  of  balanced  judgment  and  unselfish 
aims?  Are  they  men  of  probity  in  public  and  private 
affairs;  men  who  in  finance  could  be  trusted  with  the 
cash  in  a  shop  till,  much  less  with  a  national  ex- 
chequer; men  who  in  government  of  their  fellows 
could  be  trusted  to  administer  the  affairs  of  a  village, 
much  less  direct  the  destinies  of  a  great  Empire? 

The  change  to  Internationalism  that  Mr.  Wells  pro- 
poses could  not  be  realized  without  an  upheaval  which 
would  break  up  our  present  constitution;  and  he  must 
know  that  in  that  upheaval  it  would  not  be  our  sane 
and  moderate  Labour  politicians  who  would  be  the 
chosen  directors  of  the  whirlwind,  and  lords  of  the 
mad  misrule  and  destruction  that  would  follow. 

But  Mr.  Wells  puts  forth  his  International  scheme  as 
a  summary  of  what  Labour  proposes  and  purposes.  I 
know  not  what  authority  Mr.  Wells  has  to  proclaim 
himself  as  the  spokesman  of  Labour  in  the  matter  of 
the  future  government  of  Africa,  and  in  other  large 
matters  that  concern  the  integrity  and  safety  of  the 
British  Empire.  I  know  not  how  far  his  wholesale  and 


214  Patriotism  and 

prolific  fallacies  represent  the  considered  opinions  of 
Labour.  Labour  has  lately  shown  itself  sharply  div- 
ided on  many  national  and  international  questions.  I 
cannot  think  that  the  great  body  of  Labour  has  so  little 
political  sagacity,  as  to  hand  over  to  International  mis- 
direction and  confusion,  those  African  possessions  in 
which  it  has  so  large  and  fruitful  an  interest. 

I  will  not  believe  that  Labour,  which,  throughout  the 
last  agonizing  four  years  has  drained  its  blood  and 
sweat  to  cement  the  British  Empire;  which  has  racked 
its  strength  and  manhood  in  aching,  ceaseless  toil ;  which 
has  sent  forth  in  hundreds  of  thousands,  its  nameless 
unrewarded  heroes  and  martyrs  to  endure  unendurable 
hardships  and  sufferings;  which  has  dedicated  itself  to 
loathsome  miseries  and  tortures,  to  savage  butcheries 
and  mutilations,  to  terror,  disease,  captivity,  and  hor- 
rible forms  of  death ;  which  has  done  all  this  in  a  spirit 
of  such  great  resolve  and  cheerful  self-sacrifice,  that 
never  has  there  been  a  moment  in  the  long  large 
crescendo  of  our  past,  when  a  man  of  our  race  could 
kindle  with  such  exultant  pride  to  cry  out,  "I  am  of  this 
high  lineage!  I  am  the  dear  kinsman  of  the  men  who 
have  done  these  things !  I  am  of  the  breed  and  blood 
royal  of  these  smiths  and  miners  and  shopboys  and 
porters  and  weavers  and  ploughmen!  I  am  a  fellow 
citizen  with  them  in  that  great  commonwealth,  which 
they  have  rescued  and  re-purchased  from  destruction, 
and  have  established  it  on  all  the  lands  and  all  the  seas, 
to  be  a  large,  rich  heritage  for  their  children  and  their 
children's  children,  till  the  last  wave  shall  beat  upon 
its  shores,  till  the  last  breath  shall  be  drawn  through 
the  nostrils  of  their  seed,  till  the  last  echo  of  their  re- 
sounding deeds  shall  have  died  away  from  the  memory 
of  mankind!" — I  cannot  believe  that  Labour  will  now 


Popular  Education  215 

set  itself  to  undo  the  stupendous  work  it  has  accom- 
plished in  the  last  four  years,  that  having  huilt  up  the 
British  Empire  and  buttressed  and  fortified  it  on  all 
sides,  Labour  will  now  pull  down  the  stones  its  own 
hands  have  laid,  and  give  over  to  domestic  treason  and 
internal  disruption,  the  fortress  that  it  has  made  impreg- 
nable to  foreign  malice  and  assault. 

I  will  not  believe  it.    It  is  not  possible. 

Forbid  it,  you  its  true  leaders,  who  have  kept  your 
troth  to  England,  who  have  not  turned  aside  to  traffic 
with  wordsters  and  palterers,  who,  through  all  doubts 
and  perils,  have  held  your  fellows  resolute  and  inflexible 
to  our  triumphant  goal !  Hold  them  still  resolute  and 
inflexible  to  preserve  and  possess  through  long  years  of 
peace  what  they  have  won  by  the  anguish  and  sacrifices 
of  war!  Protect  them  still  from  the  crazy  sophistries 
and  treacheries  of  their  busy  enemies  within  their  own 
ranks!  You,  who  have  rallied  them  to  defeat  the 
German  hosts,  safeguard  them  now  from  defeating 
themselves ! 

Forbid  it,  you  have  nursed  our  stricken  and 
mended  our  broken  ones,  and  put  new  blood  into  their 
veins  and  new  muscle  into  their  limbs,  and  sent  them 
forth,  addressed  again  to  the  interminable  fight,  with  all 
the  old  stubborn  race  pluck  and  spunk !  Forbid  it,  you 
yeowomen  of  England,  and  all  you  who  have  trained 
your  fingers  to  strange  new  tasks,  and  stood  so  man- 
fully behind  your  men,  and  put  shells  into  their  guns, 
and  fledged  their  wings,  and  fed  their  wants,  and,  in 
countless  unaccustomed  ways,  have  shown  yourselves 
their  equals  in  tireless  endeavour,  unshaken  fortitude, 
and  patient  endurance  to  the  end.  Now  that  your 
voices  will  be  heard  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  raise 
them  against  this  parcelling  out  of  our  great  rich  free- 


216  Patriotism  and 

hold  into  disordered  plots  for  these  International  Jerry- 
builders  to  gamble  away ! 

Forbid  it,  you  who  have  torn  out  pieces  of  your  living 
flesh,  husbands  and  lovers  and  sons,  and  thrown  them 
upon  the  unblessed  carnage  heap,  and  now  sit,  widowed 
and  desolate,  by  hearths  that  will  always  be  cold  and 
cheerless,  though  the  logs  burn  never  so  brightly ;  and  in 
homes  that  will  always  be  dark  and  empty,  though  you 
fill  them  with  feasting  and  laughter ! 

Forbid  it,  you  who  have  spent  haggard  days  and 
nights  in  the  stench  and  mire,  in  filthy  habourage  with 
rats  and  feculence;  sleepless  and  shelterless  under  the 
fire  of  hell,  and  breathed  upon  by  choking  green  poison 
fumes;  you  who  have  blistered  and  staggered  in  the 
white  heat  and  stagnant  noon  of  Asian  deserts,  or  lan- 
guished in  feverous  African  swamps,  and,  fainting  un- 
to death,  have  yet  pursued  and  conquered.  You  who 
have  dug  the  graves  of  your  smitten  and  slaughtered 
brothers,  wherever  you  have  marched  and  toiled  and 
bled,  will  you  come  home  to  dig  the  grave  of  that  Em- 
pire whose  bounds  you  have  enlarged  and  established, 
and  will  you  cast  its  remains  into  dust  and  dishonour? 
You  who  have  gashed  and  ripped  out  the  entrails  of  the 
foul  German  monster,  will  you  come  home  to  stab  and 
dismember  the  Mother  who  bore  you  ? 

Forbid  it,  you  who  have  kept  icy  vigils  on  the  deep, 
peering  into  the  treacherous  murk,  in  jeopardy  every 
moment  of  blasting  annihilation,  stark  frozen  to  the 
marrow,  and  frozen  all  without  you  and  all  within,  save 
that  ever-burning  sacrificial  flame  at  your  heart's  core ! 
Forbid  it,  you  our  stout  fishermen,  who  have  fished  for 
lurking  terrors,  and  hauled  up  iron-coated  monsters, 
stored  with  murder  and  destruction !  Forbid  it,  you  our 
dauntless  merchant  crews,  breastplate  of  all  our  defence, 


Popular  Education 


217 


who  Have  furrowed  your  course  through  crowded  death- 
traps, and  kept  for  us  the  sovereignty  of  the  seas !  Look 
that  you  keep  it  for  us  still !  Renew  and  re-swear  and 
swear  again  your  irrevocable  oath,  that  these  pirates  and 
assassins  shall  be  chased  from  our  ships  and  shores,  and 
that  all  our  ocean  ways  shall  be  swept  free  of  them! 
Forbid  that  the  Ship  of  our  State,  which  holds  all  our 
treasure,  should  be  scuttled  by  its  own  crew,  and 
wrecked  in  wild  unlighted  gulfs  on  the  uncharted  rocks 
of  barren  International  shores ! 

Forbid  it,  you  legions  of  our  wounded,  whose  bodies 
have  been  mangled  and  pierced  and  broken  that  England 
might  be  whole;  remnants  of  humanity,  who,  in  your 
honoured  livery  of  pensioned  service  to  her,  shall  go 
lamed  and  loitering  to  the  end  of  your  days ;  spectators 
of  the  cheerful  bustle  of  daily  life  that  you  shall  never 
share !  Forbid  that  your  country's  body  should  be  torn 
by  internal  dissension,  and  broken  and  gangrened  by 
mad  class  strife ! 

Forbid  it,  you  our  maltreated  banished  ones,  captives 
and  bondslaves  of  imbruted  taskmasters!  You  who 
marched  away  in  the  red  and  tan  glow  of  health,  whose 
cheeks  now  wear  the  waxen  pallor  of  mortality;  frost- 
bitten, naked,  tortured  in  the  icy  hell-blasts  of  Mitzau; 
macerated  in  the  burning  hell-depths  of  German  salt 
mines — O  England,  avenge  them!  Shed  no  tear  for 
their  wrongs  beyond  all  tears!  Pity  has  drained  her 
eyes,  and  Mercy  is  dead !  Make  thy  heart  as  the  nether 
millstone,  sharpen  on  it  thy  swift  sword,  and  Strike! 
Strike!  Strike!  Spare  not  one  of  them  that  spared 
not  thy  martyred  exiles !  Let  not  one  of  them  escape 
that  did  these  things  to  thy  sons !  O  England,  avenge 
them ! — You,  who  were  ground  down  by  the  pestle  of  re- 
morseless savagery  in  the  mortar  of  unutterable  misery, 


218  Patriotism  and 

and  put  to  abominable  uses ;  starved,  beaten,  spat  upon, 
crippled,  defiled,  defaced  out  of  human  likeness;  wan 
shadows  of  yourselves,  poor  ghosts  and  skeletons'  of  men, 
if  there  is  speech  left  between  your  wasted  lips,  say 
now  a  word  to  us!  You  whose  strength  was  sapped 
and  spent  for  us,  urge  us  to  take  fresh  strength  from 
the  memory  of  all  that  you  endured!  Forbid  that  we 
should  be  enslaved  and  driven  about  by  the  tyrannous 
oppression  of  false  doctrines,  that  our  national  will 
and  purpose  should  be  sapped  by  sedition,  and  envy,  and 
discord  among  ourselves! 

Forbid  it,  most  of  all,  you  who  have  fallen,  and  are 
discharged  from  all  warfare;  men  of  all  ranks  and  sta- 
tions and  callings,  who  were  equal  in  fearless  acceptance 
of  death,  and  are  now  equal  in  lavish  ascription  of 
deathless  renown;  you,  who,  at  our  summons,  gathered 
yourselves  from  all  parts  of  the  earth,  and  are  now 
scattered  and  spilt  in  the  dust  of  three  continents. 
Gather  yourselves  again  in  solemn  concourse,  and  pass 
before  us  in  troops  and  troops,  and  thousands,  and  tens 
of  thousands — Ah,  will  the  sum  of  you  never  be  told? 
And  so  young,  the  many  of  you!  Lithe  striplings, 
founts  of  bursting  youth,  darlings  of  your  homes,  and 
fondlings  of  your  womenfolk ;  side  by  side  with  fathers 
and  husbands  stricken  down  in  their  hard-mettled  man- 
hood, and  with  seasoned  veterans  whom  age  had  not 
touched — all  contemporary  now,  all  dishabited,  cut  off 
— Great  fellowship  of  our  dead,  whom  neither  the  years 
nor  the  void  shall  dissever  from  us,  forbid  that  we 
should  be  dissevered  from  ourselves  by  factions  and 
rancours;  draw  us  into  communion  with  you,  and  into 
closer  comradeship  with  each  other,  to  finish  the  task 
you  committed  to  us  of  welding  and  soldering  together 
this  vast  commonwealth !  Spread  your  healing  hands 


Popular  Education  219 

over  our  divisions  and  enmities;  move  amongst  our 
counsels  and  sway  us  to  unity  of  purpose  and  effort!1 
You  whose  eyes  are  closed,  and  yet  see  all  things  clearly, 
show  us  the  path  of  national  safety  and  felicity,  that, 
with  sure  unhesitating  steps,  we  may  pursue  it  in  the 
troubled  days  to  come !  Go  before  us  in  our  way  and 
urge  us  to  steadfast  loyalty  to  ourselves !  Forbid  us  to 
stray  in  vagabond,  distracted  allegiance  to  International 
despotism,  and  alliance  with  alien  anarchies!  Forbid 
us  to  throw  the  title-deeds  of  our  Empire  into  the 
flames  of  insurrection  and  revolt !  Forbid  us  to  tear 
up  that  great  bond  of  national  partnership  and  brother- 
hood which  you  signed  with  your  blood! 

I  cannot  think  that  Labour,  which,  throughout  the 
war,  has  followed  its  sure  instinct  of  Patriotism  to  the 
achievement  of  such  splendid  results,  will  now  be  coz- 
ened to  abjure  its  faith  and  citizenship  in  the  land  that 
it  has  loved  and  saved,  and  made  great  and  powerful. 
Behold,  then,  you  working  men  of  England,  the  habi- 
tation that  Internationalism  is  preparing  for  you  in  that 
Promised  Land  of  the  future,  where  the  blind  lead  the 
blind,  and  the  deaf  bawl  crazy  misdirections  to  the 
deaf,  and  madmen  are  the  keepers  of  the  mad;  where 
thieves  rob  thieves,  and  starvation  preys  upon  hunger, 
and  murder  slits  the  throat  of  murder. 

But  we  are  deeply  pledged  to  the  recognition  of 
Nationality,  and  to  the  fostering  of  Patriotism,  as  a 
principle  of  our  future  policy  and  action,  wherever  our 
power  and  influence  extend.  From  the  beginning  of  the 
war,  our  statesmen,  one  after  the  other,  have  declared 
that  we  have  been  fighting  to  restore  and  preserve  the 
integrity  of  the  small  struggling  nations;  to  sort  them 
out  in  different  races  and  breeds ;  to  gather  them  within 
well-marked  borders;  to  guarantee  them  the  right  of 


"220  Patriotism  and 

self-government ;  to  give  them  the  means  of  working  out 
their  own  destinies  as  distinct  national  communities, 
with  their  own  laws,  customs,  forms  of  religion,  and 
lines  of  future  development.  Is  it  not  plain  that  if  our 
war  aims  are  achieved,  we  are  setting  free  incalculable 
forces  of  Patriotism  to  consolidate  each  of  these  nations, 
and  to  crystallize  their  scattered  atoms  in  adherence 
to  their  own  government  ? 

Do  we  suppose  that  as  each  nation  settles  down  in 
order  in  its  own  territory,  develops  its  resources,  in- 
creases in  population,  and  grows  in  prosperity,  that  its 
national  aims  and  interests  will  not  also  be  enlarged  and 
specialized,  and  tend  to  become  more  pressing,  and  more 
encroaching?  Do  we  suppose  that,  as  its  government 
becomes  more  stable  and  confirmed  and  powerful,  it  will 
not  also  become  a  stronger  engine  for  securing  and  ad- 
vancing the  separate  aims  and  interests  of  the  nation 
that  it  represents  ?  Do  we  suppose  that  these  young  na- 
tions, for  whom  we  are  now  standing  sponsors,  will  not 
grow  up  with  wills  and  ambitions  and  interests  of  their 
own;  and  this  in  proportion  to  their  racial  purity,  and 
to  their  capacity  for  self-government;  and  all  the  more 
because  they  are  young  and  vigorous?  Do  we  suppose 
that  they  will  not  use  their  newly  and  dearly  bought 
freedom  to  further  their  separate  national  interests  and 
aims  and  ambitions  ?  Why,  because  some  of  us  have  a 
whimsy  for  Internationalism,  should  we  think  that  the 
prevailing  impulses  of  mankind  will  be  arrested  and 
reversed,  and  their  conflicting  movements  be  regulated 
and  harmonized  by  the  blather  of  our  tongues? 

If  the  preponderating  voice  and  power  of  Labour  is 
now  to  direct  our  policy  towards  Internationalism,  let 
us  make  haste  to  repudiate  all  the  declarations  that  we 
have  made  of  our  aims  in  this  war.  For  it  is  clear  that 


Popular  Education  221 

Internationalism  and  the  right  of  a  people  to  self-deter- 
mination are  contradictions  in  terms.  Nor,  judging 
from  its  present  manifestations,  is  Internationalism 
likely  to  make  the  world  a  safe  place  for  democracy, 
or  a  safe  place  for  anything  or  anybody  that  is  worthy 
of  preservation.  The  only  kind  of  International  rule 
that,  up  to  the  present,  has  shown  even  the  smallest 
promise  of  enforcing  obedience  to  its  decrees,  is  the  In- 
ternational rule  which  the  Kaiser  set  out  to  establish, 
and  which  may  stand  as  a  warning  to  the  other 
iconoclasts  who  are  seeking  by  quite  other  methods  to 
introduce  equal  confusion  into  the  world's  affairs.  "By 
opposite  means,"  says  Montaigne,  "we  reach  the  same 
ends." 

I  have  defined  Internationalism  as  an  attempt  to  sub- 
vert and  supplant  the  established  governments  of  the 
world,  and  to  persuade  the  working  classes  of  each 
nation  that  they  owe  their  chief  allegiance,  not  to  their 
own  country  and  its  laws,  but  to  the  presidents  and 
decrees  of  revolutionary  tribunals  established  in  the 
large  capitals  of  the  world.  If  Internationalism  does 
not  mean  this,  what  does  it  mean  ? 

It  is  imagined  that  these  immense  and  radical  changes 
in  the  constitution  of  human  society  can  be  brought 
about  by  gradual  and  peaceful  means.  Granted  un- 
limited time,  and  a  change  in  the  instincts  and  passions 
of  mankind,  subduing  them  all  to  universal  wisdom, 
sweet  reasonableness,  and  unselfishness,  it  is  possible 
that  the  ideals  of  Internationalists  and  Revolutionary 
Socialists  may  be  realized.  But  what  is  there,  in  our 
experience  of  the  actual  world  wherein  we  live,  to  lead 
us  to  think  that  the  instincts  and  passions  of  average 
mankind  will  be  magically  and  swiftly  changed,  that 
their  standards  of  behaviour  towards  each  other, 


222  Patriotism  and 

whether  as  individuals  or  nations,  will  be  magically 
and  swiftly  raised,  and  their  material  conditions  magic- 
ally and  swiftly  improved,  so  as  to  render  such  a  con- 
summation possible?  Is  it  not  certain  that  these  con- 
tinued attempts  to  substitute  International  class  gov- 
ernment for  separate  national  government,  will  lead  to 
endless  outbreaks  of  smouldering  internecine  war,  dis- 
sipating all  our  national  energies,  and  ending  perhaps  in 
another  world-wide  conflagration  ? 

I  may  be  told  by  some  gentle  theorists  that  Inter- 
nationalism does  not  mean  what  I  have  defined  it  to 
mean,  that  is  merely  an  effusion  of  muddled,  balmy 
amiability — a  tumbler  of  mild  altruism  mixed  with  a 
teaspoonful  of  weak  patriotism,  or  a  tumbler  of  weak 
Patriotism  flavoured  with  tincture  of  universal  benevo- 
lence. We  may  leave  these  Laodoceans  to  stir  their 
tepid  mixture  in  what  proportions  they  choose,  not 
troubling  how  much  they  water  it  down,  or  whether 
the  dregs  of  their  Patriotism  settle  at  the  bottom,  or 
the  scum  of  their  Internationalism  floats  at  the  top. 

Doubtless  Internationalism  means  different  things  to 
its  various  professors.  If  Internationalism  means  no 
more  than  the  promotion  of  friendly  relations  between 
all  the  different  peoples,  the  diffusion  of  goodwill  and 
brotherliness,  the  suppression  of  national  prejudices  and 
hatreds,  the  desire  for  fair  dealing  in  all  foreign  tran^ 
sactions,  the  settlement  of  difficulties  and  disputes  by 
peaceful  means — if  this  is  Internationalism,  then  there 
is  no  more  fervid  Internationalist  than  myself.  But 
surely  all  these  things  are  much  more  likely  to  be  fos- 
tered and  accomplished  by  separate  stable  governments, 
each  chosen  to  represent  the  interests  and  claims  of  its 
own  idiomorphic  people,  than  by  an  International  tribu- 
nal set  up  to  represent  the  class  interests  of  a  fraction 


Popular  Education  223 

of  each  of  tlie  nations.  What  form  of  government 
could  in  the  end  be  more  shifty,  despotic,  cruel,  and  im- 
potent for  any  constructive  work  than  such  a  tribunal  ? 

At  this  moment,  when  the  guns  and  bells  and  cheers 
of  victory  are  echoing  to  each  other,  and  the  air  is 
throbbing  with  our  triumph,  our  one  great  fear  is  that 
our  routed  enemy  will  be  unable  to  compose  a  stable 
government  to  treat  with  us,  but  will  welter  in  a  chaos 
of  Internationalism  and  Anarchy.  And  then  the  sol- 
dier will  have  to  be  called  in  again — which  is  what  we 
all  wish  to  avoid. 

The  world's  first  urgent  need  is  for  strong,  ordered, 
separate  national  governments,  supported  by  the  un- 
divided allegiance  of  their  respective  peoples.  My 
friend,  Mr.  William  Archer,  says  he  knows  many  men 
in  his  own  circle  of  acquaintance  who  would  more  wilk 
ingly  die  for  an  International  State  than  for  a  national 
one.  Surely  we  have  had  enough  bloodshed  for  the 
present.  But  if  these  enthusiasts  force  the  Interna- 
tional movement  into  action,  they  will  find  ample  oppor- 
tunities for  securing  martyrdom,  and  Mr.  William 
Archer's  circle  of  acquaintance,  though  diminished,  will 
not,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  suffer  any  inconsolable  loss  by 
their  deletion  from  it.  Dulce  et  decorum  est  contra 
patriam  mpri  is  a  strangely  perverted  maxim  to  be 
heard  from  the  lips  of  Englishmen,  when  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  their  countrymen  have  lately  died  that 
they  may  live  to  utter  crazy  treason  to  their  memories. 

Whosoever  opens  the  gates  of  Internationalism  to  his 
fellow-citizens,  leads  them  not  to  the  gay  garden  Para- 
dise of  their  dreams,  but  to  a  darksome,  quaking  bog 
that  scarcely  yet  offers  sure  ground  to  a  single  footfall, 
and  will  not  for  generations  to  come,  bear  the  tramp- 
ling legions  of  humanity. 


224  Patriotism  and 

For  all  this,  it  is  possible  that  we  are  being  swept 
towards  Internationalism.  It  may  be  that  the  Eternal 
purposes  to  drive  the  frenzied  peoples  before  Him, 
helter-skelter  in  terror-stricken  multitudes,  stumbling 
and  treading  each  ot<her  under  foot  through  Hind 
mazes  and  barren  wastes;  till  the  vessels  of  modern 
civilization  are  broken,  and  its  garments  rent  to  rags; 
till  man's  life  becomes  as  cheap  as  beast's ;  till  after  long 
years  of  self-plunder,  self-oppression  and  self-defeat, 
mankind  find  a  large  pleasant  place  where  they  may 
begin  to  lay  the  foundations  of  their  goodly  new  civ- 
ilization. 

Who  that  has  surveyed  the  huddling  disorder  and 
dirty  aimless  ugliness  that  sprawl  over  parts  of  the  earth 
which  were  once  as  the  garden  of  the  Lord,  and  are  now 
the  nesting  haunts  where  fraud,  corruption,  hog-bellied 
greed  and  smug  stupidity,  ignorance,  sloth,  misery,  and 
disease  bring  forth  after  their  kind — who  that  has 
looked  round  upon  it,  has  not  sometimes  wished  that  one 
fierce  levin  flash  might  strike  it  and  blast  it  all  out  of 
being?  Who  that  has  a  brain  to  think  and  a  heart  to 
grieve,  does  not  sympathize  with  those  aims  of  Social- 
ism which  are  constructive  and  attainable  by  the  pres- 
ent races  of  men,  and  are  not  plain  conspiracies  to  rob 
the  thrifty,  the  industrious,  and  the  healthy,  thereby  to 
provide  national  endowment  for  the  improvident,  the 
lazy,  the  foolish,  the  diseased,  and  the  vicious,  giving 
all  these  a  chartered  right  of  unlimited  breeding  ? 

Accordingly,  we  find  that,  although  much  easier  con- 
ditions of  life  have  prevailed  for  the  last  two  genera- 
tions amongst  the  masses  in  this  country,  than  amongst 
the  masses  in  France  and  Germany,  yet  the  recruiting 
returns  show  a  higher  proportion  of  Englishmen  that 


Popular  Education  225 

are  physically  unfit  than  of  Frenchmen  and  Germans. 
Who  would  have  thought  it?  Englishmen  have  been 
better  fed,  better  clothed,  better  housed,  than  French- 
men and  Germans,  and  yet  a  larger  proportion  of  them 
are  physically  unfit!  How  unwelcome  are  facts,  when 
they  contradict  our  whimsies! 

Ponder  it,  you  social  reformers  who  are  so  vigorously 
"reconstructing"  society.  Face  the  fact,  that  easier 
general  conditions  of  national  existence  have  produced 
a  larger  proportion  of  physically  unfit  Englishmen  and 
Englishwomen!  Face  it,  for  it  is  a  fact!  Dwell  upon 
it,  for  it  is  a  fact !  Ask  yourselves  what  it  means,  for 
it  is  a  fact!  Ponder  it,  you  who  are  seeking  to  outwit 
Nature  by  legislating  that  the  lazy,  the  foolish,  the 
vicious,  the  diseased  may  be  sheltered  from  the  rigours 
of  her  stern  decrees,  that  they  may  ahave  a  good  time" 
and  multiply  exceedingly,  so  that  their  seed  may  pos- 
sess the  earth — for  a  short,  mad  season.  Have  ready 
your  midwives,  to  bring  into  the  world  them  that  will 
never  be  of  any  use  when  they  are  in  it;  and  your 
schools  and  teachers  to  educate  them  that  cannot  learn; 
and  your  parsons  to  prepare  for  heaven  them  that  are 
not  fit  for  earth;  and  your  grinning  comedians  to  pro- 
vide unwholesome  amusement  for  them  that  are  not 
capable  of  wholesome  work ;  and  your  doctors  to  tinker 
their  phthisicky  frames  that  can  only  beget  offspring 
of  their  own  kind.  Construct  and  reconstruct  your 
whole  cumbersome,  complicated  social  incubator  for 
hatching  and  cherishing  wastrels!  Then  when  it  has 
broken  down,  let  us  go  humbly  to  Nature  and  say,  "We 
have  followed  our  whimsies;  we  have  obeyed  them  in- 
stead of  obeying  your  laws.  We  have  tried  to  impose 
our  conditions  upon  you,  instead  of  accepting  the  condi- 


226  Patriotism  and 

tions  that  you  impose  upon  us.  We  will  try  to  cheat 
you  no  longer.  Tell  us  over  your  laws  again,  that  we 
may  obey  them  and  live." 

Can  we  affirm  that  even  the  constructive  aims  of 
Socialism,  its  many  noble  and  beautiful  ideals,  are 
likely  to  be  pursued  and  realized,  or  even  understood, 
by  the  population  around  us,  or  by  the  children  whom 
they  will  raise  with  tastes,  manners,  mental  habits,  and 
intellectual  capacities  on  their  own  level  ?  How  can  any 
collective  state  of  society  be  above  the  general  level  of 
the  men  and  women  who  form  that  society  ?  And  the 
general  level  of  our  tastes,  our  mental  habits,  the  stand- 
ards of  our  vocabulary,  our  capacity  for  wise  thought 
and  rational  enjoyment,  our  favourite  views  of  life — all 
these  may,  as  I  have  already  said,  be  accurately  gauged 
by  anyone  who  will  pay  a  round  of  visits  to  our  most 
popular  theatres.  There  he  may  learn  what  our  great 
populace  really  admires,  really  enjoys,  really  under- 
stands; how  it  employs  its  leisure,  and  in  what  ways 
and  upon  what  level  it  will  be  likely  to  employ  whatever 
further  leisure  it  obtains  from  socialistic  legislation. 
Another  accurate  measure  of  all  these  things  may  be 
taken  by  glancing  at  the  kind  of  literature  in  demand 
at  our  bookstalls. 

Here  I  am  suddenly  reminded  that  I  am  addressing 
the  Minister  of  Education.  Lest  you  should  think  me 
disrespectful,  sir,  if  I  do  not  ocasionally  offer  you  a  few 
personal  remarks,  I  will  digress  from  my  argument  to 
congratulate  you  upon  the  fact  that,  although  the  mod- 
ern English  drama  has  recently  met  with  some  discour- 
agement from  you,  modern  English  literature  is  receiv- 
ing some  attention  in  your  schools. 

"Who  is  the  author  of  'The  Sorrows  of  Satan'  ?"  was 
one  of  the  questions  that  was  recently  put  by  one  of 


Popular  Education  227 

your  teachers  to  a  class  of  girls,  the  daughters  of  cot- 
tagers and  labourers.  With  shame  I  confess  that  I  am 
even  more  unversed  in  the  writings  of  Miss  Marie 
Corelli,  than  in  the  writings  of  Cicero.  Indeed  I  have 
little  further  knowledge  of  Miss  Corelli,  than  that  in  a 
recent  case  before  the  Stratford-on-Avon  authorities, 
she  claimed  to  be  a  Patriot.  Her  Patriotism  was 
abundantly  proved  by  the  fact  that  she  had  been  dis- 
covered hoarding  food  at  the  time  of  our  greatest 
national  necessity ;  and  perhaps  even  more  convincingly 
by  her  authorship  of  "The  Sorrows  of  Satan,"  and  other 
kindred  masterpieces.  For  my  part,  I  could  wish  that 
her  Patriotism  had  taken  other  forms.  Still,  Miss  Marie 
Corelli,  like  Cicero,  is  a  representative  both  of  Patriot- 
ism and  Literature.  It  is  pleasing  to  find  in  her,  a 
happy  conjunction  of  the  same  qualities  that  we  find 
in  Cicero.  Doubtless,  sir,  this  is  the  reason  that  some 
knowledge  of  her  works  is  considered  a  desirable  item 
in  the  "general  education"  of  working  girls  in  the  sys- 
tem that  you  are  administering  with  such  confidence  in 
its  economic  results.  The  future  husbands  of  these 
girls  may  also  look  with  confidence  to  the  domestic  re- 
sults. And  we  who  are  willingly  paying  that  these 
working  girls  may  be  taught  such  things  as  will  tend 
to  make  them  good  wives,  mothers  and  housekeepers, 
may  feel  additional  confidence  that  our  money  is  being 
well  spent,  when  we  learn  that  their  teachers  are  train- 
ing them  to  study  the  works  of  Miss  Marie  Corelli. 
We  shall  take  another  look  at  Mr.  Punch's  cartoon 
and  rubbing  our  hands  with  satisfaction,  exclaim  with 
him,  "Pass  Education  Bill!  and  All's  Well!" 

Small  wonder  it  is  that  our  teachers  are  asking  for 
increased  pay.  Surely  a  grateful  nation  will  consider 
no  salary  too  high  for  instructors  whose  literary  tastes 


228  Patriotism  and 

and  general  intellectual  attainments  are  indicated  by 
such  questions  as  "Who  was  the  author  of  The  Sor- 
rows of  Satan'  ?"  Would  you  consider  it  is  an  unpar- 
donable curiosity,  sir,  if  I  asked,  who  teaches  your 
teachers  ? 

Miss  Corelli's  status  in  English  literature  being  thus 
confirmed,  sir,  by  your  system  of  Popular  Education, 
and  your  system  of  Popular  Education  being  thus  justi- 
fied by  the  vogue  of  Miss  Corelli  amongst  its  teachers 
and  scholars,  we  may  now  leave  the  matter  of  her  in- 
dividual Patriotism,  and  return  to  the  consideration  of 
that  other  kind  of  National  Patriotism,  which  every- 
where finds  itself  confronted  and  challenged  by  the 
gathering  forces  of  Internationalism  and  revolutionary 
Socialism. 

Patriotism,  having  saved  our  skins,  and  secured  our 
daily  bread  and  butter ;  having  protected  every  home  in 
England  from  the  danger  of  foul  violation  and  burning ; 
having  united  and  established  our  Empire  and  given  us 
the  hope  and  power  of  increasing  future  well-being  and 
greatness — Patriotism  having  done  all  this  for  us,  we 
are  now  asked  to  forswear  and  forsake  it  in  favour  of 
the  political  creed  that  has  devastated  and  ruined  Eus- 
sia,  and  threatens  to  disintegrate  and  work  havoc  in 
Central  Europe. 

Will  England,  that  through  these  past  four  years  has 
saved  herself  by  holding  true  to  herself,  be  mad  enough 
now  to  destroy  herself  by  being  false  to  herself? 

A  telegram,  just  received  from  Petrograd,  says  that 
"the  Bolshevists  have  passed  a  law  that  all  single 
women  over  twenty  are  the  property  of  the  State,  and 
all  children  over  six  weeks  are  to  be  handed  to  the  State 
to  be  brought  up  and  educated  by  the  authorities.  Com- 
plete disorder  reigns,  and  a  large  number  of  women  have 


Popular  Education  229 

not  found  it  possible  to  trace  their  babies."  These 
rulers  of  Russia  are  they  whom  Mr.  Wells  finds  "pro- 
foundly wise,"  and  "shining  clear,"  and  "intimately 
acquainted  with  social  and  economic  questions,  and 
everything  that  really  matters  in  real  politics."  Is  not 
motherhood  a  social  and  economic  question?  Does  it 
not  lie  at  the  root  of  most  other  social  and  economic 
questions  ?  Is  not  its  sanctity  a  thing  that  matters  su- 
premely in  "real  politics"  ?  Is  it  not  the  well-spring 
of  a  nation's  life  ?  You  English  mothers,  now  that  you 
have  a  choice  of  your  rulers,  will  you  choose  such  rulers 
as  Mr.  Wells  recommends  to  you,  who  will  not  only 
rob  all  of  us,  even  the  poorest,  of  our  material  goods, 
but  will  also  strip  us  bare  of  our  more  precious  spiritual 
possessions  ? 

I  do  not  say  that  there  is  any  immediate  danger  of 
Bolshevism  being  put  into  active  working  disorder  in 
England.  At  present  we  are  only  dallying  with  its 
theories.  I  gladly  own  there  is  much  sound  common- 
sense  in  the  heads  of  our  working  men,  though  I  cannot 
allow,  as  Mr.  Wells  seems  to  claim,  that  all  the  wisdom 
and  honesty  in  the  community  are  to  be  found  in  the 
ranks  of  Labour,  the  rest  of  us  being  fools  and  idlers 
and  thieves.  We  have  won  the  war  because  the  majority 
of  our  working  men  had  the  wisdom  to  follow  and  obey 
those  of  their  leaders  who  had  the  instinct  of  Patriot- 
ism. We  can  win  an  even  more  glorious  peace,  if  only 
our  working  men  will  have  the  wisdom  to  follow  leaders 
who  have  the  same  instinct. 

There  before  us,  plain  for  every  one  of  us  to  see  and 
read,  stand  the  two  signposts,  the  one  guiding  us  to 
Patriotism,  the  other  to  Internationalism.  There  is  no 
third  road.  We  must  take  the  one  or  the  other.  Look 
into  what  abysmal  depths  and  quagmires  we  are  urged 


230  Patriotism  and 

by  that  finger  which  points  us  to  Internationalism.  See 
at  the  bottom,  the  hapless,  hopeless  masses  of  the  Rus- 
sian people,  floundering  in  a  putrid  cesspool  of  blood 
and  misery  and  disease,  every  man's  hand  in  his  neigh- 
bour's pocket,  or  at  his  neighbour's  throat.  Midway 
down  the  slope  are  yelling,  turbulent,  hungry  crowds, 
fighting  amongst  themselves,  and  pushing  each  other 
head  foremost  towards  the  pit  of  destruction.  And  here 
at  the  top,  on  a  platform  under  the  signpost  of  Inter- 
nationalism, are  professional  anarchists,  bawling  out 
their  catchwords  and  phrases,  alongside  amiable  theo- 
rists and  doctrinaires,  with  rose-colored  spectacles  glued 
over  their  myopic  eyes,  as  they  demonstrate  to  the  dis- 
contented and  slothful  and  ignorant  amongst  us,  that 
the  filthy  slough  at  the  bottom  is  a  fairyland  of  pure 
delight,  and  issue  detailed  instructions  for  reaching  it. 
There  are  many  clear  logical  thinkers  who  are  con- 
vinced Internationalists.  But  what  is  the  use  of  con- 
vincing ourselves  that  the  world  is  flat,  as  we  easily  may. 
There  is  much  evidence  to  support  the  theory.  What  is 
the  use  of  thinking  clearly,  if  we  think  wrongly  ?  Some 
of  the  clearest  thinkers  I  have  known,  have  been  the 
wrongest  thinkers.  We  all  know  men  whose  opinions 
we  need  not  take  the  trouble  to  examine.  We  are  sure 
from  what  we  know  of  the  constitution  of  their  minds, 
that  they  must  infallibly  be  wrong  upon  any  subject. 
Their  brains  work  upon  facts  with  a  reversed  action. 
If  we  find  they  agree  with  us  on  any  matter,  at  once  we 
begin  to  question  our  own  judgment.  Just  as  there  are 
some  amongst  us  whose  physical  diathesis  is  adapted  to 
catch  any  zymotic  disease  that  may  be  raging,  so  there 
are  others  whose  mental  diathesis  is  adapted  to  catch 
any  wrong  opinion  that  may  be  raging.  God  has  made 
them  so,  as  Dr.  Watts  remarks  with  piercing  insight, 


Popular  Education  231 

thus  accurately  accounting  for  human,  as  well  as  for 
canine  peculiarities.  Let  us  leave  these  predestined 
Impossiblists  in  God's  hands,  for  He  alone  is  capable 
of  dealing  with  them. 

But  there  are  also  many  thoughtful,  large-hearted 
men,  who  advocate  Internationalism  from  high,  dis- 
interested motives  and  genuine  love  of  their  kind.  I 
would  beg  them  to  notice  that  Patriotism  is  an  instinct, 
an  emotion,  a  passion — not  a  political  opinion.  It  is 
of  little  use  to  argue  against  it,  and  to  show  that  it  is 
guilty  of  follies  and  excesses,  even  of  crimes.  Nothing 
is  more  easy  to  prove  than  that  Patriotism  is  fundamen- 
tally absurd  and  wrong.  But  it  is  a  fact.  It  exists. 
It  persists.  We  cannot  destroy  it. 

If,  by  a  decree  of  our  will,  International  government 
could  be  firmly  established  all  the  world  over  to-night, 
Patriotism  would  spring  up  to-morrow  morning,  and 
begin  to  choke  it.  In  scattered  places,  amongst  cliques 
and  sects  and  races,  Patriotism  would  germinate,  and 
spread,  and  take  possession  of  men's  hearts  and  wills, 
and  bind  together  in  separate  communities,  such  of  them 
as  have  common  interests  and  aims  and  beliefs,  till  in 
a  very  short  time  it  would  be  plain  that  International 
government  could  not  command  their  obedience,  or  com- 
pose their  differences.  And  then  the  soldier  would  have 
to  be  called  in — which  is  what  we  all  wish  to  avoid. 
When  the  soldier  had  done  his  work,  we  should  find 
mankind  segregated  in  new  national  groups,  in  new 
confines,  under  new  flags,  with  new  national  aspirations 
and  ambitions.  And  the  more  we  changed  this  new 
order,  the  more  it  would  remain  the  same  thing. 

It  is  a  paradox,  most  annoying  to  theorists  and  doc- 
trinaires, that  Internationalism,  which,  by  their  show- 
ing, ought  to  reconcile  mankind,  does,  as  a  matter  of 


232  Patriotism  and 

fact,  divide  and  antagonize  mankind.  I  am  speaking 
now  of  International  government,  or  attempts  at  In- 
ternational government,  symbolized  by  the  Interna- 
tional flag,  and  claiming  allegiance  to  it,  in  opposition 
to  Patriotic  governments  symbolized  by  national  flags. 
I  arn  not  speaking  of  international  intercourse  and 
friendliness,  and  of  good  understandings  between  all  the 
nations,  and  of  international  laws  and  treaties  to  at- 
tain such  objects  as  may  be  for  the  general  good,  or  for 
the  good  of  several  nations.  Such  international  ar- 
rangements as  these  are  obviously  for  the  benefit  of 
mankind,  and  we  may  hope  to  see  a  large  and  fruitful 
development  of  many  of  them. 

But  they  are  advantageous  because  they  are  avow- 
edly contracted  between  separate  nations,  each  under  its 
own  flag.  They  are  practicable,  and  likely  to  be  pros- 
perous, to  the  extent  that  they  recognize  the  principle 
of  nationality.  That  is  to  say,  they  acknowledge  the 
very  plain  fact,  that  while  all  the  peoples  have  a  few 
interests  in  common,  and  some  of  the  peoples  have 
many  interests  in  common,  yet  all  the  peoples  can  never 
have  all  interests  in  common,  but  must  necessarily  be 
divided  and  opposed  in  their  chief  permanent  inter- 
ests. 

Uktil  Patriotism  has  welded  and  moulded  a  com- 
munity into  a  corporate  social  organism,  until  it  has 
unified  and  solidified  groups  of  kindred  human  beings 
into  separate  nations,  no  effective  friendly  international 
transactions  can  take  place.  !N"o  benefits  can  come  to 
humanity  from  Internationalism  until  Patriotism  is  al- 
ready established  and  operative  in  each  nation,  and 
only  in  the  degree  that  Patriotism  is  established  and 
operative.  International  goodwill  and  kindliness  all 
the  world  over  are  what  we  all  desire.  But  these  can 


Popular  Education  233 

only  flow  through  the  channels  that  Patriotism  has  al- 
ready cut  for  them. 

Will  Internationalists  please  explain  by  what  precise 
means  concord,  fellowship,  and  brotherhood  can  be  pro- 
moted amongst  the  peoples,  and  their  enmities  dis- 
armed, except  by  forms  and  measures  decreed  by  sep- 
arate, secure,  national  governments?  Internationalism 
can  only  work  for  the  welfare  of  mankind  by  the 
routes  that  Patriotism  provides.  Outside  Patriotism, 
Internationalism  does  but  gather  together  a  rabble  that 
embroils  itself  in  ceaseless  confusion,  hatred,  and  anar- 
chy. One  glance  at  the  world's  present  distractions 
shows  this  plainly  enough.  Let  us  think  out  this  mat- 
ter clearly  and  thoroughly,  for  the  world's  peace  de- 
pends upon  our  rightly  understanding  it.  Therefore 
let  us  think  it  out,  once,  and  twice,  and  thrice,  and  yet 
again.  I  am  not  speaking  now  to  them  whose  eyes 
cannot  see  the  clearest  facts,  and  whose  minds  cannot 
receive  the  plainest  truths. 

Internationalism  that  claims  allegiance  to  its  flag,  and 
works  to  supplant  national  government,  is  always  and 
everywhere  a,  centrifugal,  disintegrating,  destructive 
force,  tending  to  the  insecurity  of  mankind.  Patriot- 
ism is  always  and  everywhere  a  centripetal,  constructive 
force,  which  by  binding  each  separate  nation  in  unity 
of  aim  and  interest,  makes  its  government  an  effective 
responsible  instrument  to  deal  with  neighbouring  gov- 
ernments, and  to  conduct  international  affairs  with 
smoothness  and  decision.  Therefore  Patriotism,  al- 
ways and  everywhere  tends  to  the  general  security  of 
mankind.  An  equal  diffusion  of  universal  benevolence 
is  a  sure  cause  of  disorder  and  strife.  Like  every  other 
assertion  of  equality,  it  reacts  and  provokes  inequali- 
ties. God  won't  have  it. 


234  Patriotism  and 

Why  should  we  try  to  focus  our  amiability  on  every- 
body and  everything,  in  the  delusion  that  we  are  guid- 
ing the  earth  into  milder  realms  of  space,  where  per- 
petual sunshine  reigns,  and  where  everybody's  circum- 
stances will  be  easy  and  pleasant? 

It  is  indeed  painfully  true,  that  we,  who  are  deni- 
zens of  this  inferior  planet  in  a  quite  insignificant  solar 
system,  have  all  too  much  reason  for  dissatisfaction 
with  our  beggarly  circumscribed  position  in  a  universe 
of  boundless  dimensions  and  possibilities.  Onr  condi- 
tions of  life  are  pitiably  hard  and  uncomfortable,  when 
compared  with  those  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  planets 
that  circle  round  Sirius.  In  each  of  these  worlds  every- 
body has  a  real  "good  time."  The  picture  palaces  and 
popular  revues  are  of  inconceivable  magnificence,  and 
sixpenny  novels,  by  writers  possessing  imaginations 
even  more  gorgeous  than  Miss  Corelli,  are  sold  for  a 
penny.  The  working  day  is  rigorously  restricted  to  six 
hours,  and  the  weekly  holiday,  compulsory  in  all  oc- 
cupations, begins  every  Thursday  evening  at  five,  and 
lasts  till  the  following  Wednesday  morning  at  ten.  Un- 
broken security,  prosperity,  and  happiness  are  main- 
tained by  a  comprehensive  system  of  State  Insurance, 
which  covers  every  member  of  the  community  from  all 
damage,  loss,  evil,  or  misfortune  arising  from  every 
cause  whatsoever,  including  his  own  follies,  extrava- 
gances, and  wicked  actions.  All  other  desirable  things 
are  showered  upon  the  lucky  inhabitants  in  the  same 
reckless  profusion.  Many  of  these  advantages  are  un- 
questionably due  to  the  inordinate  amount  of  space 
which  Sirius  has  managed  to  grab  for  himself  and  his 
satellites.  But  some  credit  must  also  be  given  to  the 
admirable  system  of  Popular  Education  (more  enlight- 


Popular  Education  235 

ened  even  than  your  own,  sir),  which  is  enforced  in  all 
the  regions  under  his  sway. 

Seeing  how  enviable  are  the  conditions  of  life  in  the 
Sirian  planets,  there  is  much  to  be  said  for  throwing  in 
our  lot  with  their  inhabitants,  and  thus  abolishing  the 
glaring  inequalities  which  we  may  well  resent  when  we 
compare  our  situation  with  theirs.  The  report  of  the 
Interstellar  Commission,  appointed  to  consider  the 
matter,  with  a  view  to  the  removal  of  these  iniquitous 
inequalities,  is  full  of  pregnant  suggestions.  It  recom- 
mends that,  as  soon  as  Internationalism  is  securely 
established  on  our  own  planet,  steps  should  be  taken  to 
amalgamate  our  own  solar  system  with  the  planetary 
system  of  Sirius,  and  to  consolidate  all  the  interests  of 
all  the  inhabitants  of  both  systems.  Doubtless  this  sug- 
gestion will  be  carried  into  effect,  when  we  have  at- 
tended to  the  few  minor  matters  that  are  now  engag- 
ing our  attention. 

We  must  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  daunted  by  the 
magnitude  of  the  conception.  After  all,  it  is  only  the 
legitimate  development  of  our  present  Internationalist 
aims.  E"or,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  will  it  be  any  more  diffi- 
cult of  achievement.  We  may  take  some  assurance 
from  the  fact  that  the  most  prominent  members  of  the 
Interstellar  Commission  are  men  who,  for  many  years 
past,  have  been  engineering  the  International  movement 
on  this  earth.  If  I  am  any  judge  of  character,  these 
are  not  men  who  would  be  likely  to  embark  us  in  any 
risky  enterprise. 

We  must  proceed  with  great  deliberation  and  prud- 
ence. We  must  eschew  all  violent  methods.  We  must 
conduct  our  operations  so  as  not  to  cause  any  undue 
concussions  and  disturbances  in  other  planetary  systems. 


236  Patriotism  and 

We  must  remember  that,  most  probably,  their  inhabit- 
ants, like  ourselves,  have  a  preference  for  an  easy,  quiet 
life.  Our  first  care  must  to  inquire  how  this  desirable 
amalgamation  of  our  solar  system  with  that  of  Sirius, 
can  be  brought  about  by  peaceful  means.  It  is  consid- 
ered by  the  Interstellar  Commission,  that  our  object 
will  be  most  easily  and  effectively  gained  by  voting  for 
it,  in  the  same  way  that  we  are  voting  for  Internation- 
alism, and  in  the  same  way  that  we  voted  there  should  be 
no  war  with  Germany. 

Of  course  voting  is  the  method  that  we  all  greatly 
prefer,  and  generally  adopt,  in  settling  such  matters.  I 
question,  however,  whether  voting  can  be  relied  upon  to 
avert  the  danger  of  a  terrific  celestial  catastrophe, 
when  the  two  systems  approach  each  other.  If  there 
were  a  collision,  both  systems  and  all  they  contain 
would  inevitably  be  reduced  to  gas.  It  would  be  a 
thousand  pities  if  a  scheme  that  promises  so  many 
blessings  to  mankind,  were  reduced  to  mere  gas.  How- 
ever, the  more  far-seeing  Interstellarists  are  aware  of 
this  danger,  and  are  providing  a  garden  hose  of  un- 
usual diameter,  which  will  be  ready  to  turn  on  at  the 
first  sign  of  a  conflagration.  Still,  I  have  my  doubts. 

Then,  again,  the  Sirian  populations  may  have  ex- 
travagant ideas  of  the  terms  on  which  the  amalgama- 
tion can  be  arranged.  They  may  take  a  selfish  view  of 
their  own  interests,  and  refuse  to  make  those  necessary 
concessions  which,  in  justice  to  ourselves,  we  must  de- 
mand if  our  conditions  of  life  are  to  be  levelled  up  to 
theirs,  and  perfect  equality  secured  all  round  through- 
out the  two  systems.  The  whole  matter  needs  our  most 
careful  consideration. 

Is  it  any  more  foolish  to  imagine  that  an  amalgama- 
tion of  our  solar  system  with  Sirius  can  be  brought 


Popular  Education  237 

about  without  a  transcendent  celestial  catastrophe,  than 
to  imagine  that  an  amalgamation  of  all  the  nations  of 
the  earth  can  he  Drought  ahout  without  a  transcendent 
terrestrial  catastrophe?  Are  the  Interstellarists  any- 
more visionary,  impracticable,  and  deluded  than  the  In- 
ternationalists ?  Now  that  the  malignant  comet  of  war 
has  struck  the  nations,  and  sent  them  reeling  out  of 
their  orbits  in  wild  oscillations,  what  madness  is  it  to 
call  upon  the  yet  more  destructive  force  of  Internation- 
alism, to  throw  them  into  yet  more  violent  collisions 
with  each  other,  and  to  break  up  our  whole  terrestrial 
system  in  anarchy  and  ruin  ? 

What  madness  is  it  that  urges  Englishmen  to  in- 
trigue against  their  own  country,  to  hate  and  renounce 
their  citizenship,  and  to  clamour  for  such  privileges 
and  liberties  and  rights  as  are  now  enjoyed  in  Russia, 
and  through  all  Central  and  Eastern  Europe  ?  Has  this 
kind,  stupid,  blundering  mother  of  ours  provided  for  us 
so  badly,  left  us  so  small  an  inheritance,  with  such  beg- 
garly hopes  and  honours  and  possessions,  that  we  must 
make  haste  to  disown  her,  and  to  proclaim  ourselves 
the  pauper  bastards  of  promiscuous  intercourse  between 
drunken  seditions  and  International  whoredoms? 

But,  it  may  be  asked,  if  Patriotism  is  one  of  the 
universal  instincts,  how  is  it  that  so  many  thoughtful 
intelligent  Englishmen  are  to  be  found  who  do  not 
possess  it? 

They  do  possess  it — the  vast  majority  of  them.  Even 
Mr.  Wells  had  fits  of  temporary  Patriotism,  when  every- 
one of  us  was  in  danger  of  being  starved  and  held  in 
slavery  to  Germany.  There  are  amongst  us  a  few  of 
Nature's  freaks  who  are  without  the  instinct  of  Patriot- 
ism, as  there  are  other  freaks  without  the  religious 
instinct,  and  as  there  are  women  freaks  without  the 


238  Patriotism  and 

i 

maternal  instinct.  But  these  are  rare  exceptions,  and 
Nature  herself  disowns  and  dismisses  them. 

There  are  very  few  men  living  who  are  destitute  of 
the  instincts  of  Patriotism.  Our  Pacifists  are  super- 
abundantly endowed  with  it.  They  burn  with  its  pur- 
est ardours — for  every  country  but  their  own.  Behold 
them  all  through  the  war,  scheming  to  bring  about  the 
victory  of  Germany,  and  the  defeat  of  England.  Be- 
hold them  now  scheming  that  justice  shall  not  be  done 
to  Germany,  and  that  England  shall  be  baffled,  and  en- 
tangled, and  condemned  to  pay  the  costs  of  Germany's 
crimes. 

Pacifism  and  Internationalism  are  really  perverted 
and  diseased  forms  of  the  instinct  of  Patriotism.  They 
are  something  akin  to  those  not  infrequent  perversions 
of  other  primal  instincts,  which  may  be  related  to  phy- 
sical malformations,  but  which  none  the  less  we  repro- 
bate and  punish.  Congenital  moral  perverts  are  abom- 
inable enough ;  but  the  harm  they  work  falls  on  a  small 
circle,  and  chiefly  upon  themselves.  But  congenital 
political  perverts  are  far  more  mischievous;  for  the 
harm  they  work  falls  on  a  large  circle,  and  shakes  the 
health  and  security  of  the  whole  social  system. 

How  do  we  know  that  Internationalism  is  a  perverted 
instinct?  By  its  results.  All  the  primal  instincts, 
when  they  are  normal,  bring  fruitful  and  beneficial  re- 
sults. When  they  are  perverted,  they  bring  evil  results. 
Where  and  when  has  Internationalism  brought  any- 
thing but  confusion,  revolt,  riot  and  anarchy  ?  If  Inter- 
nationalism brings  harmony  and  goodwill  and  pros* 
perity  to  the  peoples  of  the  earth,  if  it  leads  them  to 
any  goal  but  general  strife  and  chaos  and  bankruptcy, 
then  the  Lord  hath  not  spoken  by  me. 

I  bring  all  these  reasons  and  considerations  before 


Popular  Education  239 

you,  sir,  as  Minister  of  Education,  and  as  being  largely 
responsible  for  the  general  drift  and  bias  of  political 
thought  amongst  the  masses  in  the  next  generation.  I 
suppose  no  man  has  more  influence  and  power  than 
yourself  in  directing  future  public  opinion  to  wise  is- 
sues. At  an  immeasurable  cost  of  lives  and  treasure, 
and  at  terrible  hazard  of  national  disaster  and  ruin, 
we  neglected,  in  the  last  generation,  to  train  our  boys 
in  their  first  duty  of  being  ready  to  defend  their  coun- 
try. I  grant  it  is  not  likely  that  an  equal  danger  will 
threaten  us  in  the  future.  It  is  scarcely  likely  that  the 
same  danger  will  threaten  us.  But  having  regard  to 
the  present  unsettled  condition  of  the  world's  affairs, 
who  can  tell  what  dangers  and  emergencies  may  arise 
during  the  next  ten,  or  twenty,  or  forty  years  ? 

We  insure  our  houses  against  fire,  though  in  that 
minor  matter  we  run  not  a  hundredth  part  of  the  risk 
that  we  run  in  leaving  ourselves  uninsured,  or  half- 
insured,  against  any  conflagration  that  may  start 
amongst  the  inflamed  peoples,  and  spread  through  our 
world-wide  dominions.  There  are,  I  suppose,  thousands 
of  chances  to  one  against  a  man's  house  being  burnt 
down ;  yet  every  one  of  us  insures  against  it.  Are  the 
chances  so  many  as  twenty  to  one  that,  in  the  course 
of  a  generation,  a  situation  may  not  arise  which  it  will 
be  necessary  for  us  to  meet  with  a  show  of  irresistible 
power,  so  that  we  may  prevent  another  devastating  and 
exhausting  war  ?  Why  should  we,  as  a  nation,  neglect 
to  insure  our  property,  when  every  private  citizen,  run- 
ning not  a  hundredth  part  of  the  risk,  does  it  as  a 
matter  of  course? 

It  may  be  replied  that  we  have  just  freed  ourselves 
from  all  immediate  danger,  and  that  this  is  a  very  in- 
opportune moment  to  raise  such  a  question.  On  the 


240  Patriotism  and 

contrary,  I  affirm  that  this  is  the  most  opportune  men 
ment  to  decide  upon  our  future  policy  in  this  matter. 
When  a  man  has  had  two  or  three  lucky  reprieves  from 
gaol  and  the  gallows,  is  it  not  time  for  him  to  hegin 
to  ask  himself  whether,  after  all,  there  may  not  be 
some  good,  sound  commonsense  in  the  sixth  and  eighth 
commandments  ? 

Twice,  within  twenty  years,  has  the  British  Empire 
been  saved  from  irrevocable  ruin  by  the  mercy  of  a 
toss-up.  Twice  has  British  civilization,  all  that  a  power- 
ful and  beneficent  England  means  for  the  peaceable  and 
prosperous  development  of  the  world,  all  that  she  has 
accomplished  for  mankind,  all  that  she  might  yet  ac- 
complish— twice,  within  a  short  twenty  years,  has  all 
this  been  hazarded  and  mortgaged  to  defeat  and  destruc- 
tion by  our  wilful  blindness  and  folly,  our  resolute 
refusal  to  look  at  the  plain  facts  of  our  national  respon- 
sibilities and  necessities.  Twice,  did  I  say  ?  Will  our 
statesmen  and  generals  tell  us  how  many  times  in  the 
last  four  years,  England  has  hung  over  the  precipice  of 
irretrievable  disaster,  in  jeopardy  lest  a  mere  finger- 
push  of  chance  should  send  her  reeling  into  the  abyss? 

Is  not  this  the  very  moment  to  decide  upon  a  clear 
future  national  policy,  to  give  ourselves  good  reasons 
for  it,  that  we  may  pursue  it  steadfastly,  consistently, 
and  continuously?  Is  not  this  the  first  question  that 
we  should  consider  in  our  plans  of  "reconstruction," 
seeing  that  it  is  fundamental,  and  underlies  all  other 
questions ;  seeing  that  all  our  other  national  activities — 
educational,  economic,  industrial,  social,  must  be  shaped 
and  directed  according  as  we  decide  to  take  the  road 
to  Patriotism  or  to  Internationalism? 

Again,  sir,  as  in  the  earlier  part  of  this  letter,  I  urge 
you  to  leaven  our  whole  system  of  Popular  Education 


Popular  Education  241 

with  a  sober,  resolute  Patriotism,  and  to  give  all  our 
boys,  as  part  of  their  "general"  education,  some  pre- 
liminary training  in  the  first  duty  of  every  citizen,  the 
defence  of  his  country. 

Could  any  proposal  be  more  unwelcome,  more  out- 
rageous, more  unpopular?  Why,  what  is  this  but 
blatant  militarism,  undisguised  Prussianism,  unholy 
soldier-worship,  rank  treason  to  humanity? 

No,  sir,  my  proposal  tends  to  our  national  peace  and 
security  and  prosperity.  Is  it  we  who  would  uphold 
militarism — we  who  have  freely  offered  our  dearest 
ones  to  crush  it ;  we  who  for  long  past,  have  never  heard 
a  knock  at  the  door  without  a  clutch  at  our  heart 
strings,  lest  it  tokened  that  the  Dread  Visitor  had  called 
at  our  home;  we  who,  going  out  into  the  night  to  stay 
the  fever  of  our  thoughts,  have  never  for  months  looked 
up  at  the  moon  and  stars,  without  their  lighting  up  our 
imagination  with  pictures  of  our  dearest  flesh,  mangled, 
scattered,  writhing  in  helpless  agony  and  thirst  under 
that  same  canopy,  under  those  same  beams  that  fell  so 
gently  upon  us  in  the  dreaming  night  landscape  ?  Is  it 
we  who  are  enamoured  of  militarism?  Is  it  we  who 
would  seek  to  perpetuate  it? 

No,  sir,  my  proposal  that  you  should  give  all  our 
boys  some  elementary  drill  and  training  in  the  defence 
of  their  country,  aims  at  quite  another  mark  than  the 
establishment  of  militarism.  It  is  indeed  a  proposal  for 
that  reduction  of  armaments,  which  we  all  see  to  be 
so  urgent  and  necessary. 

Everyone,  except  the  demented,  will  allow  that  in  the 
unsettled  condition  of  Europe,  we  shall  be  obliged  to 
keep  a  standing  army  of  small,  or  moderate,  or  consider- 
able dimensions,  according  as  future  circumstances  may 
advise  us.  Everyone  will  allow  that  this  standing  army 


242  Patriotism  and 

must  be  reduced  to  the  smallest  numbers  compatible 
with  the  security  of  our  Empire.  Now  what  could  give 
us  such  confidence  to  reduce  that  standing  army  to  the 
very  lowest  limits  of  safety,  as  the  knowledge  that  the 
instinct  of  Patriotism  had  been  wisely  encouraged  in 
our  masses,  and  that  all  our  able  males  had  received 
some  rudimentary  training,  so  that  they  might  be  easily 
prepared  to  take  up  arms  in  an  emergency?  What 
could  offer  us  such  security  against  panic  and  alarm; 
and  against  the  tragic  and  ridiculous  necessity  of  hav- 
ing to  use  the  methods  of  enlistment  of  1914,  of  having 
again  to  badger,  bribe,  bully,  shame,  coax,  and  kick  our 
recruits  into  doing  their  duty  by  means  of  advertising 
dodges  worthy  of  a  second-rate  circus? 

What  so  much  contributed  to  bring  about  this  war  as 
our  enemy's  notion  that  England  could  not  be  roused  to 
fight?  What  would  be  more  likely  to  ensure  the  long 
future  peace  of  the  world  than  the  knowledge  that  the 
man-power,  the  energy  and  courage  of  the  British 
Empire  were  alert  and  charged  to  spring  into  action  the 
moment  they  were  summoned  ?  Is  it  a  long  world-peace 
that  we  want?  Then  this  is  the  way  to  obtain  it. 

I  will  say  but  one  hasty  word  about  the  physical  and 
moral  value  of  such  training,  of  its  reinforcement  of  the 
national  health.  What  testimony  to  its  efficacy  could 
be  more  convincing  than  that  of  the  daily  proofs  under 
our  eyes,  and  of  the  evidence  given  by  the  United  States 
recruiting  officers  as  to  the  marvelous  instant  restora- 
tion to  health  of  the  American  city-bred  populations 
that  were  brought  under  its  cleansing  and  invigorating 
discipline  ? 

Again,  if  such  physical  training  as  I  am  advocating 
were  given  to  our  boys  of  fourteen  and  fifteen,  it  need 
not  take  up  much,  or  any  of  the  time  that  should  be 


Popular  Education  243 

rightly  claimed  by  books  and  study.  All  healthy  boys 
of  that  age  need  much  vigorous  muscular  exercise,  and 
it  would  be  an  economical  expenditure  of  their  time  if 
they  took  that  exercise  in  the  form  of  drill  and  scouting, 
and  other  out-of-door  rudimentary  military  excursions. 
To  most  of  them,  these  would  soon  become  pleasant  and 
exhilarating  occupations. 

And  further,  it  is  possible,  and  indeed  likely,  that  if 
these  boys  are  not  given  this  elementary  military  train- 
ing in  their  school  days,  a  great  many  of  them  will  be 
called  to  undergo  it  in  their  later  years,  when  it  will  be 
more  irksome,  will  interfere  to  a  large  extent  with  their 
ordinary  employment,  and  will  be  more  expensive  to  the 
State.  Surely,  the  most  of  them  can  more  easily  and 
economically  spare  an  hour  or  two  each  day  in  their 
school  years,  than  in  their  early  manhood,  when  their 
best  time  and  energy  should  be  given  to  their  daily  tasks 
and  vocations. 

And  yet  once  more,  it  is  better  that  they  should  re- 
ceive this  training  at  school,  than  later  in  barracks,  at 
an  age  when  barrack  life  has  necessarily  some  objec- 
tionable features  and  associations. 

As  a  measure  of  prudent  national  insurance,  such  as 
no  citizen  dare  neglect  in  his  private  concerns;  as  a 
measure  that  makes  for  a  higher  standard  of  health  in 
our  cities;  as  a  measure  that  offers  the  easiest,  surest, 
cheapest  means  of  reducing  our  armaments  to  their  low- 
est limit  of  safety;  as  a  measure  that  tends  to  the 
security  of  the  British  Empire,  and  therefore  tends  to- 
wards the  permanent  peace  of  the  world — for  all  these 
reasons,  I  urge  you,  sir,  to  give  full  play  and  fostering 
to  the  instinct  of  Patriotism  in  all  our  schools,  and  to 
make  elementary  military  training  a  part  of  every  boy's 
education. 


244          Patriotism  and  Education 

I  urge  this,  without  the  least  hope  that  you  will  adopt, 
or  even  consider,  my  proposal ;  indeed,  in  the  full  knowl- 
edge that  you  will  reject  it ;  that  so  far  as  you  do  con- 
sider it,  you  will  find  it  inconvenient  and  contrary  to  all 
your  educational  views  and  plans.  It  is  dead  against  all 
the  fashions  and  notions  of  the  day  in  Popular  Educa^ 
tion.  It  is  dead  against  the  rising  tide  of  political 
opinion.  I  know  that,  well  enough.  I  turn  to  the  latest 
estimate  of  our  National  Debt.  I  ask  myself  how  much 
of  all  this  monstrous  expenditure  might  have  been 
spared  if  my  proposal  had  been  put  into  operation  in 
the  years  of  1890-1900.  I  catch  a  malign  smile  on  the 
face  of  the  little  cherub  who  sits  up  aloft  to  keep 
watch  over  human  delusions  and  fallacies.  I  give  him 
a  friendly  shrug. 


CHAPTER  VI 

(Nov.— Deo.  1918-Von.  1919) 

RENEWED    EXAMINATION    OF    POPULAR    EDUCATION, 
AND  ITS  EFFECTS 

Daring  suggestion  to  educate  our  carpenters  to  make  tables  and 
chairs — Non-readers  and  non-regarders — The  Hebrew  Scriptures — 
Useful  maxims  from  them  for  national  guidance — These  ancient 
rules  of  conduct! — Appeal  to  great  permanent  rules  and  prin- 
ciples— Have  we  got  hold  of  sure  rules  and  principles  in  Popu- 
lar Education? — Look  at  the  facts — Double  your  Education  rates! 
Treble  them!  Ignorance  is  the  foe — The  two  most  costly  and  mis- 
chievous kinds  of  ignorance — Proposal  to  levy  supplementary 
Education  rate  for  study  of  the  great  commandments — A  matter 
for  the  parsons — England  without  a  living  credible  religion — 
Manual  labourers  in  angry  revolt  against  their  daily  work — 
Professor  Wallace  on  mistaken  Education  of  Manual  labourers 
— Forbidden  to  learn  the  things  they  will  be  mainly  concerned 
to  do — The  young  blacksmith  who  was  educated  to  play  the  flute 
— Educational  experts  and  Jane  Austen's  vicar — How  nature  es- 
tablishes a  sound  and  vigorous  race — Our  care  of  child  life — We 
shall  have  to  call  in  the  biologist — Breeding  the  unfit — More 
important  to  get  ourselves  rightly  born  than  rightly  educated — 
Summons  to  the  biologist  for  guidance  towards  wise  legislation 
— Better  to  fit  manual  labour  to  its  job  than  to  force  it  to  its  job 
— Popular  Education  responsible  for  widely  spread  vulgarity  and 
shoddiness — Our  Popular  songs — The  ornament  of  our  common 
life — Our  whole  system  of  Popular  Education  needs  to  be  built 
on  a  new  basis — Questions  we  now  ask  ourselves  in  educating 
our  masses — Questions  we  should  ask  ourselves — Broad  division 
line  between  manual  labour  and  brain  labour — Necessary  to  esti- 
mate the  amount  of  each,  and  educate  our  masses  accordingly— 
Coal  and  iron  district  peopled  exclusively  by  artists,  scholars, 
and  thinkers — The  gas  workers  of  Odessa — School  teachers  and 
rag  pickers — Their  rates  of  pay  compared — An  unsound  social 
structure — Superficial  universal  mis-education  the  cause  of  uni- 
versal revolt — Nature  has  already  sorted  out  our  scholar*  for 

245 


246  Patriotism  and 

us — Let  us  educate  them  discriminately — A  million  houses  need- 
ed for  working  classes — Why  not  educate  our  children  towards 
building  them — Rate  of  wages  quite  unimportant — Social  insta- 
bility again  traced  to  absence  of  living  credible  religion  and 
active  working  faith — Motto  for  a  new  Education  Act — Nature 
about  to  bring  in  a  stringent  Uneducation  Bill  of  her  own. 


MANY  months  have  passed,  sir,  since  I  sat  down 
with  the  intention  of  writing  you  a  short  letter 
to  point  out  what  seemed  to  me  the  eccentric  methods  of 
your  system  of  Popular  Education — such,  for  instance, 
as  the  device  for  making  good  future  cooks  by  inviting 
girls  of  fourteen  to  tell  you  what  they  know  about  Cicero 
and  Miss  Marie  Corelli ;  and  again,  your  scheme  for  pro- 
viding sound  household  furniture  for  working  class 
homes  by  carefully  instructing  our  future  carpenters  in 
abstract  matters  of  "general"  education  till  they  are 
eighteen. 

In  my  ignorance  of  the  mysterious  laws  of  cause  and 
effect,  I  will  not  dare  to  affirm,  against  your  better 
judgment,  that  these  are  not  the  best  methods  of  getting 
good  cookery  and  good  household  furniture.  I  do  know 
that  relishing  palatable  food  for  our  indoor  workers  is 
one  of  the  first  necessities  of  our  national  life,  and  I  do 
know  that  they  are  in  no  likely  way  of  getting  it,  itnless 
kindly  ravens  bring  it  to  them,  or  unless  they  are  taught 
to  earn  it  and  cook  it  for  themselves.  That  sound  house- 
hold carpentry  is  a  great  convenience  of  life,  I  have  had 
constant  reminders  during  the  writing  of  this  letter. 
And  if  you  discover  any  lapses  and  flaws  in  the  argu- 
ments I  have  brought  before  you,  I  hope,  sir,  you  will 
generously  ascribe  them,  not  so  much  to  my  natural 
stupidity,  as  to  my  difficulty  in  collecting  my  thoughts 
while  the  door  in  the  next  room  was  dallying  with  its 
latch,  and  fitfully  squeaking  and  moaning. 


Popular  Education 


247 


I  suppose,  sir,  it  would  scarcely  fall  in  with,  your 
system  of  "general"  education,  to  allow  some  of  us  who 
may  be  inclined,  to  pay  an  additional  education  rate  for 
the  purpose  of  training  some  of  our  quite  young  urchins 
to  be  sound,  skilled,  general  carpenters;  meantime  not 
neglecting  to  give  them  also  such  other  education  as 
would  be  surely  useful  to  them  and  to  the  State.  I  sug- 
gest this  simply  as  an  experiment.  It  is  true  that  it  ia 
an  experiment  of  the  kind  that  throughout  all  the  past 
history  of  mankind  has  been  successful.  In  the  case  of 
my  old  carpenter,  it  was  the  means  of  bringing  him 
competence,  and  content  with  his  daily  work,  and,  I  be- 
lieve, some  pleasure  and  pride  in  doing  it.  It  was  also 
the  means  of  providing  good  household  carpentry  for 
his  fellow  workers. 

However,  we  live  in  "a  world  of  modern  ideas," 
where  facts  are  governed  and  regulated  by  our  opinions, 
and  where  the  past  experience  of  mankind  can  offer  us 
no  guidance.  We  must  make  experiments  amongst  this 
new  set  of  natural  laws  which  we  have  ordained  for  the 
governance  of  the  planet. 

Having  regard,  then,  to  the  woeful  condition  of  the 
carpentry  in  our  working-class  homes,  may  I  respect- 
fully offer  for  your  consideration,  sir,  the  project  I  have 
outlined  above;  namely,  that  of  training  some  hun- 
dreds or  thousands  of  our  boys  who  have  a  native  apti- 
tude and  liking  for  carpentry,  in  the  early  practice  of 
that  fine  and  useful  art.  And  I  suggest,  sir,  that  you 
should  begin  this  training  at  about  the  age  of  ten  or 
eleven,  that  is  to  say,  at  the  age  when  their  hands 
are  most  pliable,  and  their  minds  most  plastic  and 
receptive  of  training.  Of  course  the  experiment  can  be 
easily  dropped,  the  moment  it  is  proved  that  the  present 
system  of  training  boys  up  to  the  age  of  eighteen  in 


248  Patriotism  and 

matters  of  abstract  thought,  provides  a  larger  number 
and  a  better  quality  of  tables  and  chairs. 

I  am  aware  that  I  cannot  expect  my  suggestion  will 
receive  the  least  attention  from  you.  Indeed,  through- 
out my  letter,  I  have  written  in  the  conviction  that  you 
will  certainly  be  amongst  my  non-regarders,  and  prob- 
ably amongst  my  non-readers. 

IsTow  the  non-regarder  is  practically  the  equivalent  of 
the  non-reader,  and  in  this  sense  most  of  our  popular 
books  may  be  said  to  be  without  readers.  Most  of  our 
popular  plays  also  are  seen  by  non-regarders;  and  in 
this  sense,  are  nightly  acted  for  hundreds  of  nights  to 
absent  audiences.  It  is  true  that  a  vast  number  of 
people  pay  their  money,  and  attend  at  the  theatres,  and 
clap  their  hands.  And  in  the  other  case,  a  vast  number 
of  people  buy  the  book,  and  turn  over  its  pages,  and 
look  at  its  printed  matter.  Beyond  this,  nothing  hap- 
pens, except  that  incidentally  much  valuable  time  is 
wasted,  and  a  great  quantity  of  valuable  paper  is  de- 
stroyed. I  fear,  sir,  this  serious  "economic  injury" 
must  be  placed  to  the  debit  of  Popular  Education ;  but 
doubtless  it  will  be  redressed,  as  you  promise  us,  by 
giving  our  masses  increased  doses  of  that  same  "gen- 
eral education"  which  seems  to  have  caused  it. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  an  author  may  certainly  take  more 
pride  in  having  a  large  number  of  non-readers,  than  in 
having  a  large  number  of  readers  who  are  non-regard- 
ers. For  clearly  it  is  more  respectful  to  an  author  not 
to  read  him  at  all,  than  to  read  him  and  not  to  give  heed 
to  what  he  says.  If  you  should  read  this  book,  sir,  and 
not  regard  it,  I  shall  feel  that  I  have  wasted  some  hours 
of  your  time;  while  I  shall  also  have  an  uneasy  sense 
that  I  have  lost  an  unanswerable  case  by  my  unfortunate 
manner  of  stating  it.  I  will  therefore  natter  myself  by 


Popular  Education  249 

counting  you  among  my  non-readers,  whom  already  I 
number  by  hundreds  of  millions,  and  who  may  be 
trusted  to  increase  beyond  fabulous  computation  as  the 
ages  roll  on. 

But  even  Shakespeare  and  Sir  Hall  Caine  do  not 
command  an  unlimited  circulation,  and  there  are  some 
people  who  do  not  read  the  Bible.  These  are,  of  all 
men,  the  most  to  be  pitied.  For  that  bundle  of  strange 
old  Hebrew  books,  for  all  their  grotesque,  misleading 
theology,  their  frequent  contradictions,  their  childish 
science,  their  doubtful  history,  their  monstrous  fables 
and  miracles,  their  occasional  passages  of  shocking  im- 
morality— for  all  these  faults  and  errors,  these  strange 
old  Hebrew  books  do  yet  show  us  the  way  of  life,  if  we 
will  but  plant  our  feet  discerningly  upon  their  pre- 
cepts. Their  rules  of  conduct  make  the  beaten  highway 
of  mankind. 

Here  is  one  simple  maxim  that  stirs  my  memory: 
"Devise  not  evil  against  thy  neighbour,  seeing  he  dwell- 
eth  securely  by  thee."  Consider  the  universal  potency 
and  effect  of  it.  Suppose  that  short  simple  precept  to 
have  been  framed  and  hung  in  the  German  Foreign 
and  War  Offices  a  dozen  years  ago — and  obeyed.  Ger- 
many to-day  would  be  a  great,  rich,  prosperous  nation, 
commanding  the  respect  and  honour  and  friendship 
of  the  world.  Just  that  short  simple  precept  of  twelve 
words ! 

Invert  it,  and  it  has  the  same  universal  potency  and 
effect.  "Dwell  not  securely  by  thy  neighbour,  when  he 
deviseth  evil  against  thee."  Suppose  that  short  simple 
precept  to  have  been  framed  and  hung  in  our  own 
Foreign  and  War  Offices  a  dozen  years  ago — and 
obeyed.  We  should  have  been  spared  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  the  miseries  and  losses  of  the  past  four  years, 


250  Patriotism  and 

and  our  future  naval  supremacy  would  not  now  be 
jeopardized.  Just  that  short,  simple  precept! 

What  magic  "reconstruct ive"  power  have  these  old 
precepts  over  the  character  and  circumstances  of  the 
men  and  the  nations  who  obey  them!  The  dozens  of 
them  that  we  daily  disobey  and  neglect !  Yet  they  are 
our  sure  guides  to  individual,  social,  and  national  well- 
being  and  happiness.  Only  in  the  measure  that  we  keep 
them,  will  our  schemes  of  "reconstruction57  prosper,  or 
be  anything  but  whirling  eddies  of  dust  and  wind  and 
confusion. 

"A  false  balance  is  abomination  to  the  Lord,  but  a 
just  weight  is  his  delight.'7  A  housewife  in  a  London 
suburb  tells  me  that  there  is  not  a  neighbouring  trades- 
man with  whom  she  deals,  who  does  not  try  daily  cheats 
of  pence  and  ounces.  Petty  enough,  but  what  a  patch 
of  rottenness  does  it  show  in  the  texture  of  our  every- 
day national  life !  What  a  comment  on  our  system  of 
Popular  Education  That  concerns  itself  about  Miss 
Marie  Corelli,  and  apparently  neglects  the  book  of 
Proverbs ! 

"In  all  labour  there  is  profit,  but  the  talk  of  the  lips 
tendeth  to  penury" — a  verse  that  came  forcibly  to  my 
mind  a  few  nights  ago,  when  I  heard  a  dirty,  shabby, 
disreputable,  unshaven  lounger  announce  to  half-a-dozen 
of  his  like,  "We're  going  to  have  Education!  And 
we're  going  to  have  Our  Rights !" — with  a  vicious  em- 
phasis on  the  last  two  words  that  boded  ill  to  anybody 
else  on  the  planet  who  may  happen  to  have  Rights. 

"Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go,  and  when 
he  is  old  he  will  not  depart  from  it,"  is  a  maxim  of 
sovereign  universal  value,  as  none  of  us  will  dispute.  It 
seems,  however,  to  offer  to  educational  experts  large 
opportunities  for  misapplication. 


Popular  Education  251 

<rWhere  there  is  no  vision,  the  people  perish,  but  he 
that  keepeth  the  law,  happy  is  he" — one  might  quote  the 
whole  book,  so  full  it  is  of  saving  wisdom  and  national 
instruction. 

These  ancient  rules  of  conduct!  How  oddly  they 
sound  in  a  "world  of  modern  ideas" !  These  changeless 
precepts,  that  were  old  and  serviceable  to  mankind  when 
Abraham  lived  in  tents  on  the  plain  of  Mamre,  and  will 
be  new  and  serviceable  to  mankind  when  that  plain  of 
Mamre  shall  be  alive  with  airmen's  wings ! 

These  old,  old  rules  of  life !  I  know  not  in  what  ad- 
verse circumstances  I  may  find  myself  in  a  year's  time. 
I  do  know  that  I  cannot  be  in  any  situation,  however 
perplexed,  where  obedience  to  one  or  two  of  these  rules 
will  not  bring  me  off  with  self-respect,  and  with  credit 
among  my  fellows.  I  know  not  in  what  emergencies 
and  dangers  my  country  may  find  itself  in  the  course  of 
tiie  coming  generations.  I  do  know  that  whatever 
changes  and  revolutions  may  shake  and  scatter  the 
peoples,  it  will  be  only  by  a  schooled  and  united  Pa- 
triotism that  England  shall  be  safely  brought  through, 
and  shall  find  her  lasting  security  and  prosperity  only 
by  the  submission  of  all  classes  to  those  great  fixed 
principles  of  orderly  government  which  alone  preserve 
nations  from  anarchy,  dispersion,  and  ruin. 

Return,  O  England,  to  the  commandments  that  from 
of  old  have  made  nations  great,  and  to  the  precepts  that 
have  made  men  wise !  Lay  fast  hold  upon  them !  Write 
them  on  the  table  of  thy  heart!  Tie  them  about  thy 
neck !  So  shall  thy  land  have  peace,  and  thy  barns  shall 
be  filled  with  plenty !  So  shall  thy  children  inherit  the 
fatness  of  the  earth,  and  there  shall  be  no  complaining 
in  thy  streets ! 

Surely  if  ever  this  nation  was  called  upon  to  shape  its 


252  Patriotism  and 

policy  by  great  proved  rules  and  principles,  and  not  by 
party  cries  and  expediencies,  the  tricks  of  the  caucus, 
the  whimsies  of  doctrinaires,  the  bellowings  of  dema- 
gogues, and  the  clamours  of  the  mob — surely  it  is  called 
upon  this  day  to  choose  this  plain  path  of  national 
safety. 

Throughout  this  letter  I  have  sought  to  build  all  my 
arguments  upon  great  permanent  underlying  rules, 
upon  principles  that  are  proved  and  vouched  for  by 
facts,  and  are  not  at  the  mercy  of  shifting  currents  of 
popular  opinion. 

Would  you  say,  sir,  that,  in  this  great  matter  of  Pop- 
ular Education,  we  have  got  hold  of  sure  rules  and 
principles  ? 

Look  at  the  facts.  Here  is  a  system  that  was  de- 
signed to  give  free  education  to  as  many  children  as 
our  working  classes  choose  to  bring  into  the  world,  no 
matter  how  diseased,  how  mentally  and  physically  unfit 
they  may  be.  It  was  designed  to  give  every  one  of 
these  children  a  chance  of  rising  to  any  position  for 
which  his  natural  abilities  may  qualify  him,  and  to  fit 
all  of  them  to  earn  their  living  in  circumstances  that 
should  ensure  them  tolerable  comfort  and  content.  Yet 
after  fifty  years  of  it,  we  find  the  majority  of  working 
men  in  the  kingdom  in  open  rebellion  against  their  lot, 
in  open  rebellion  against  the  plainest  economic  laws. 
And  the  more  education  we  give  them,  the  louder  and 
angrier  grows  their  discontent. 

Where  is  the  fault?  Is  it  in  the  human  stuff  that 
you  are  moulding?  The  soundest  part  of  it  has  just 
shown  that  it  can  be  trained  to  accomplish  the  most 
heroic  deeds  the  world  has  ever  seen — when  it  obeys 
its  leaders,  and  does  not  command  them,  as  in  politics. 

Is  there  not  something  wrong  in  the  system  by  which 


Popular  Education 


253 


our  working  boys  are  trained  for  their  civic  duties, 
when  the  result  is  plainly  seen  to  be  a  state  of  universal 
envy,  discontent,  and  daily  revolt  against  ordinary 
daily  duties  ? 

Who  does  not  sympathize  with  our  working  men  in 
their  struggles  for  better  conditions  of  life  ?  Who  would 
not  willingly  pay  for  giving  them  such  Education  as 
will  tend  to  bring  about  these  better  conditions,  so  far 
as  they  are  attainable  in  a  world  which  certainly  was 
not  constructed  on  the  easy  plan  of  giving  all  its  in- 
habitants a  good  time,  and  the  right  to  breed  at  the 
expense  of  the  State? 

National  money  cannot  be  better  spent  than  upon 
Education  which  does  really  educate,  which  does  really 
draw  out,  not  indeed  all  the  natural  abilities  of  every 
child,  but  chiefly  and  continuously  those  natural  abili- 
ties by  which  each  child  will  have  to  earn  his  living, 
and  thus  obtain  reasonable  comfort  and  content  for 
himself,  and  be  of  most  service  to  his  fellow  citizens  and 
the  State.  Whatever  advanced  "general"  education  he 
wants,  he  will  get  for  himself.  If  he  will  not  do  this, 
you  do  but  multiply  labour  and  expense  and  confusion 
by  forcing  it  upon  him.  However,  let  advanced  "gen- 
eral" education  be  easily  within  the  reach  of  all  who  are 
desirous  of  it,  and  are  likely  to  profit  by  it 

Double  your  Education  rates,  sir!  Treble  them,  if 
you  can  but  teach  us  the  things  it  most  concerns  us  to 
know,  and  yet  more  compulsively,  the  things  it  most 
concerns  to  do  ! 

Ignorance  is  the  foe.  But  what  ignorance  can  be  so 
mischievous  and  costly  to  the  State,  as  ignorance  of 
those  plain  precepts  and  rules  of  conduct  which  hold  all 
human  society  together  ?  And  next,  what  ignorance  can 
be  so  mischievous  and  costly  to  the  State  as  ignorance 


254  Patriotism  and 

of  our  own  particular  work,  ignorance  of  what  our  job 
is,  and  ignorance  of  the  way  to  use  our  hands  and  tools 
when  we  have  found  our  job.  I  think  it  would  be  safe 
to  say  that,  after  fifty  years  of  Popular  Education, 
these  two  kinds  of  Popular  Ignorance  are  far  more 
prevalent  and  widely  spread  in  England  to-day  than 
they  were  before  we  had  any  National  Education  at 
all. 

"The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  knowl- 
edge." That  is  the  true  foundation  stone  of  all  Popu- 
lar Education.  And  tightly  morticed  to  it  are  those 
old  rules  and  precepts  that  I  have  glanced  at — very 
granite  wherewith  to  build  up  the  character  of  our  citi- 
zens, and  the  integrity  of  our  public  life. 

While  I  have  been  writing  this  letter,  I  have  got  into 
talk  with  some  of  your  younger  scholars  of  the  poorer 
classes,  and  have  asked  them  questions  about  their 
teachers,  and  their  lessons,  and  their  school  work.  Per- 
haps I  was  unfortunate  in  the  specimens  of  boyhood 
whom  I  happened  to  meet ;  perhaps  their  shyness  tend- 
ed to  obscure  and  confuse  their  answers.  I  will  not 
make  any  sweeping  assertion,  but  I  received  a  strong 
impression  that  amongst  your  proteges  of  the  ages  of 
ten  to  fourteen  there  is  a  general  and  alarming  igno- 
rance of  the  necessity  for  honesty  and  truthfulness. 
Doubtless  this  kind  of  ignorance  is  not  confined  to  our 
street  urchins,  but  is  widely  prevalent  and  "hronic 
amongst  all  classes  in  all  nations.  But  when  we  find 
that  a  considerable  body  of  our  tradesmen  regularly  con- 
duct their  business  by  a  system  of  petty  pilferings,  it 
is  permissible  to  suggest  that  classes  should  be  held  in 
all  our  national  schools  for  the  special  study  of  the  last 
six  commandments  and  other  obsolete  rules  of  conduct, 
with  demonstrations  of  their  effect  upon  personal  and 


Popular  Education  255 

national  character.  If,  sir,  you  should  institute  an  in- 
quiry into  the  prevalence  of  this  kind  of  ignorance 
amongst  your  scholars,  and  its  effect  upon  the  commun- 
ity in  the  next  generation,  and  if,  as  the  result  of  the 
inquiry,  you  should  levy  a  supplementary  Education 
rate  for  the  study  and  enforcement  of  these  command- 
ments, you  shall  find  me  your  most  cordial  subscriber. 

It  may  again  be  urged  that  this  is  a  matter  for  the 
parsons.  But  surely  it  is  unfair  to  put  this  important 
Educational  work  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  parsons, 
overburdened  as  they  already  are  with  their  gigantic 
task  of  reconciling  their  different  systems  of  theology 
amongst  themselves,  and  of  making  them  credible  to  our 
intelligence.  When  they  have  accomplished  this  stu- 
pendous work,  it  will  be  time  to  ask  for  their  help  in 
rescuing  the  commandments  from  disuse  and  neglect. 
Meantime,  it  is  clear  that  the  working  classes  are  largely 
rejecting  both  the  theology,  and  the  commandments. 
And  England  is  left  without  a  living  credible  religion. 
I  often  think  that  theology  is  the  great  enemy  of  re- 
ligion, as  the  English  theatre  is  the  great  enemy  of  the 
English  drama, 

Howbeit,  sir,  I  jwill  repeat  that  ignorance  of  these 
great  commandments  is  one  of  the  worst  evils  that  can 
afflict  a  State,  and  that  our  system  of  Popular  Education 
seems  to  be  doing  little  to  abolish  it.  What  shall  it  avail, 
sir,  though  your  scholars  have  passed  all  sorts  of  stand- 
ards, and  know  a  little  about  Cicero,  and  a  great  deal 
about  Miss  Corelli,  if  they  have  not  been  grounded  in 
the  knowledge  and  practice  of  the  great  permanent  rules 
of  life  and  conduct  ?  Here  is  surely  the  first  great  busi- 
ness of  Popular  Education,  the  task  that  all  its  teachers 
should  be  set  to  pursue.  I  leave  the  matter  to  your 
eareful  consideration* 


256  Patriotism  and 

The  second,  and  next  most  mischievous  and  costly 
kind  of  ignorance,  is  ignorance  of  our  own  particular 
work  in  the  world.  The  dominant  staring  fact  that 
meets  hoth  educational  experts  and  politicians,  is  the 
fact  that  nearly  every  manual  worker  in  the  kingdom  is 
in  angry  revolt  against  his  daily  job;  does  not  merely 
take  no  pride  in  doing  it  well,  but  hates  it,  shirks  it, 
performs  it  only  by  the  stimulus  of  compulsion,  or  the 
lure  of  bribery;  performs  it,  not  as  a  duty  and  service 
to  the  community,  but  as  a  means  of  taxing  the  commun- 
ity, of  whom  the  immense  majority  are  his  fellow 
workers. 

If  you  will  make  a  careful  inquiry,  sir,  you  will  find 
that,  not  only  in  carpentry,  but  also  in  dozens  of  other 
trades  and  callings,  where  honest,  skilled  workmanship 
is  necessary  for  the  daily  comfort  of  us  all,  there  is  the 
same  slackness  and  incapacity,  the  same  ignorance  of 
the  craft,  the  same  hatred  of  the  work  itself.  The  mo- 
tive thought  that  prompts  our  manual  labourers  to-day 
is  not,  "How  can  I  do  this  job  thoroughly  and  well, 
so  that  my  fellow  workers  may  benefit  by  my  labour, 
while  I  shall  equally  benefit  by  their  careful  and  honest 
work  for  me?"  but,  "How  can  I  get  through  this  job 
with  the  least  trouble,  and  how  can  I  get  more  pay  for 
my  next  job  ?" 

From  this  it  follows  that  a  great  deal  of  the  work  that 
we  are  doing  for  others,  and  that  others  are  doing  for 
us,  has  to  be  done  over  and  over  again.  Three  pairs  of 
bad  boots  have  to  be  made  at  far  greater  cost  of  labour 
and  time  than  one  good  pair.  Three  bad  plays  have  to 
be  written  and  produced  at  a  greater  cost  of  labour  and 
time  than  one  that  demands  serious  thought  from  the 
author  in  writing  it,  and  serious  thought  from  the 


Popular  Education 

audience  in  seeing  it,  and  can  therefore  be  seen  many 
times  with  delight.  And  so  the  daily  lives  of  most  of 
us  are  pushing  and  worried  and  empty  and  mean,  and 
are  stripped  of  ornament  and  grace  and  thoughtful 
leisure.  My  friend  Emery  Walker  tells  me  that  a  pic- 
ture map  of  the  road  from  Hyde  Park  Corner  to  Ham- 
mersmith in  the  early  nineteenth  century,  shows  that 
there  was  not  a  single  house  that  was  not  beautiful,  or 
pleasing  to  look  at.  Consider  how  thoroughly  those 
builders  and  carpenters  must  have  been  educated  in  the 
things  that  it  most  concerned  them  to  do  and  make. 

Sir,  the  very  plain  meaning  of  this  general  rebellion 
of  manual  labour  is  that  the  great  body  of  our  workers 
are  being  educated  away  from  their  individual  life- 
work,  instead  of  being  educated  towards  it.  The  result 
is  that  the  majority  of  them  find  it  repulsive  and  un- 
bearable, shirk  it,  scamp  it,  and  do  it  grudgingly,  with 
ever  louder  grumblings  and  threats.  Surely  this  points 
to  some  serious  defect  in  the  system  of  education  that 
prepares  them  for  it.  How  else  do  you  account  for 
the  fact,  that  with  higher  wages  and  easier  material 
conditions  of  living  than  have  ever  been  known,  the 
great  body  of  manual  labour  throughout  the  kingdom  is 
in  constant  and  increasing  rebellion  ? 

If  Popular  Education  does  not  prepare  our  labouring 
classes  for  existence  in  an  actual  world  where  there  is 
a  tremendous  amount  of  hard,  dirty,  disagreeable  work 
to  be  done  by  somebody,  and  where  none  of  them  can 
have  any  comfort  and  content  until  that  hard,  dirty, 
disagreeable  work  is  done,  what  impossible  fairy  land 
is  Popular  Education  preparing  our  working  classes 
to  live  in  ? 

My  general  argument  receives  powerful  confirmation 


258  Patriotism  and 

from  one  who  speaks  from  long  practical  experience  of 
the  working  of  our  educational  machine.  In  his  "Open 
Letter  to  Mr.  Lloyd  George,"1  Professor  Eohert  Wal- 
lace of  Edinburgh  University  brought  the  most  urgent 
and  cogent  reasons  for  the  postponement  and  reconsid- 
eration of  the  English  and  Scotch  Education  Bills,  then 
before  Parliament.  He  clearly  showed  how  mischievous 
their  operation  is  likely  to  be  in  many  ways.  In  a  sec- 
ond pamphlet,2  containing  his  "Opening  Lecture"  this 
season,  Professor  Wallace  brings  further  convincing  evi- 
dence of  the  economic  fallacy,  the  wasteful  futility  and 
the  general  impracticability  of  many  of  the  clauses  of 
these  misconceived  measures.  He  advises  that  some  ap- 
proach be  made  in  our  education  of  manual  workers 
to  the  old  Scottish  system,  which  not  only  trained  and 
developed  a  sturdy,  industrious,  educated  working  and 
peasant  class,  but  also  gave  us  many  able  administrators 
and  leading  men  in  all  the  professions,  thus  conspicu- 
ously helping  to  build  up  the  Empire.  If  National 
Education  is  to  be  judged  by  results,  surely  that  old 
Scotch  system  offers  us  many  features  that  might  be 
most  usefully  and  beneficially  copied  and  embodied  in 
our  educational  legislation. 

Professor  Wallace  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  the 
education  of  manual  labour  throughout  the  country  is 
being  mainly  conducted  on  vicious  first  principles,  and 
towards  consequences  that  will  be  increasingly  disad- 
vantageous and  disastrous,  alike  to  the  working  classes 
themselves  and  to  the  State.  I  have  not  the  practical 
experience  of  Professor  Wallace,  and  can  only  judge  by 

1  "Open  Letter  to  Mr.  Lloyd  George"  (Oliver  and  Boyd,  Edin- 
burgh), 2d. 

'"Opening  Lecture,"  by  Robert  Wallace  (Oliver  and  Boyd, 
Edinburgh),  6(2. 


Popular  Education 


259 


results.  Sir,  our  workers  are  being  largely  educated 
away  from  realities,  and  ignorance  itself  is  better  than 
such  an  education. 

Professor  Wallace's  unanswerable  letter  to  Mr.  Lloyd 
George  was  disregarded  by  the  Prime  Minister  him- 
self, and  by  the  late  Parliament.  Will  the  new  Parlia- 
ment set  itself  to  search  thoroughly  into  this  most  press- 
ing matter  of  "reconstruction"  ?  Doubtless  it  will  con- 
tain an  increasing  number  of  members  who  will  try  a 
tussle  and  a  juggle  with  eternal  economic  laws,  like  men 
who  should  construct  a  barometer  to  regulate  the 
weather,  and  give  us  as  much  sunshine  as  we  would 
like. 

Meantime,  sir,  there  are  those  million  or  thereabouts 
of  houses  to  be  built,  and  an  infinite  amount  of  other 
hard  manual  labour  to  be  done  for  the  working  classes. 
Again,  in  my  ignorance  of  the  mysterious  laws  of  cause 
and  effect,  I  will  not  dare  to  affirm  against  your  better 
judgment,  that  the  execution  of  all  this  accumulating 
manual  work  may  not  be  furthered  by  your  simple  ex- 
pedient of  keeping  all  our  vigorous  young  labourers  in 
continuation  classes  till  they  are  eighteen,  there  to  be 
employed  in  learning  things  that  most  of  them  do  not 
wish  to  know,  that  many  of  them  cannot  comprehend, 
and  that  would  be  useless  to  the  majority  if  they  could 
comprehend  them.  And  this  at  a  time  when  nearly 
every  working  man  in  the  kingdom  is  dissatisfied  with 
his  lot,  and  is  likely  to  be  in  constant  insurrection, 
striking  for  higher  wages  and  shorter  hours ! 

With  this  prospect  before  us,  you  will  permit  me, 
sir,  to  watch  the  working  of  your  experiment  with  a 
legitimate  curiosity,  and  an  earnest  hope  that  for  the 
sake  of  the  working  classes  themselves  it  may  prove 
successful ;  at  the  same  time  holding  myself  in  readiness 


260  Patriotism  and 

to  tender  you  at  any  moment  the  sympathy  which  Jove 
feels  with  a  good  man  struggling  with  adversity. 

Do  I  grudge  our  working  classes  any  good,  or  com- 
fort, or  knowledge,  or  luxury  that  it  may  be  possible 
for  them  to  obtain,  and  to  keep  in  their  possession,  and 
bequeath  to  their  children  ?  These  workers  of  England ! 
What  kindness,  what  lovableness,  what  native  humour 
and  shrewd  good  sense,  what  generosity,  patience,  and 
stubborn  endurance,  are  to  be  found  amongst  them! 
There  is  not  one  of  them  who  can  wish  any  real  and 
lasting  good  for  himself  that  I  do  not  wish  for  him, 
and  would  not  help  him  to  attain — so  far  as  it  is  at- 
tainable, and  is  aidant  to  the  general  security  and  civili- 
zation of  the  State.  Surely  the  working  classes  of  this 
country  are  as  capable  of  great  accomplishments  and 
constructive  work  in  peace,  as  they  have  shown  them- 
selves capable  of  great  accomplishments  and  exalted 
heroism  in  war.  If  only  they  will  find  the  right  leaders, 
and  if  only  they  will  suffer  themselves  to  be  led ! 

It  is  estimated  that  85  per  cent.1  of  the  children  un- 
der your  jurisdiction,  sir,  belong  to  the  class  of  manual 
workers,  or  of  those  who  will  have  to  earn  their  living 
by  routine  or  mechanical  operations  where  the  hand  is 
employed  rather  than  the  brain.  With  this  85  per  cent, 
in  our  minds,  I  beg  most  respectfully,  sir,  to  offer  for 
your  consideration  this  general  maxim,  as  a  first  prin- 
ciple that  should  inform  our  entire  system  of  Popular 
Education — "Euture  manual  workers  shall,  so  far  as 
possible,  be  allowed  and  encouraged  to  learn  those  things 
that  they  will  be  mainly  concerned  to  do,  and  shall  not 
be  forced  to  learn  those  things  that  they  will  be  only 
remotely  concerned  to  know."  Our  present  system  of 
Popular  Education  is  based  upon  the  opposite  principle, 
1  Professor  Wallace,  "Open  Letter  to  Mr.  Lloyd  George." 


Popular  Education  261 

which  declares:  "Future  manual  workers  shall  be  for- 
bidden to  learn  those  things  that  they  will  be  mainly 
concerned  to  do,  and  shall  be  forced  to  learn  those  things 
that  they  will  be  only  remotely  concerned  to  know/' 

That  is  the  principle  which  has  guided  experts  in 
education  for  the  last  generation,  and  your  new  Act 
asserts  it  with  gathering  force.  Hence  it  is  that  almost 
universal  discontent  prevails  amongst  the  working 
classes,  and  hence  it  is  that  much  of  the  necessary  ordi- 
nary mechanical  work  of  our  daily  lives  is  shirked  and 
scamped,  and  is  being  done  with  increasing  friction, 
and  at  an  increasing  cost  to  the  nation — that  is,  at  an 
increasing  cost  to  the  working  classes  who  form  the  bulk 
of  the  nation.  What  other  results  could  we  expect? 
What  but  larger  results  of  the  same  sort  can  we  expect 
in  the  future  ? 

The  whole  matter  is  governed  by  the  well-known 
physiological  law,  which  may  be  summarized  thus :  "All 
exercises  of  our  muscles  and  nerves  tend  to  become  less 
irksome,  more  agreeable,  and  more  effectual,  the  earlier 
they  are  learned,  and  the  longer  they  are  practised." 

When  we  remember  that  85  per  cent,  or  thereabouts 
of  our  population  will  have  to  earn  their  living,  and 
to  contribute  to  the  prosperity  of  the  State  by  the  exer- 
cise of  certain  muscles  trained  in  various  ways,  it  seems 
a  strange  system  of  education  that  forbids  them  to  exer- 
cise these  muscles,  and  forces  them  all  to  an  unwelcome 
irritation  of  irrelevant  brain  centres.  The  young  black- 
smith who  was  prepared  for  his  profession  by  means 
of  lessons  on  the  flute  up  to  the  age  of  eighteen,  never 
mastered  his  craft,  and  was  always  dissatisfied  with  it 
Nor  did  he  become  so  much  as  a  passable  musician, 
though  he  had  grown  to  believe  that  this  was  his  true 
vocation.  The  horses  in  that  neighbourhood  were  very 


262  Patriotism  and 

badly  shod,  and  he  was  constantly  kicked  about  the 
forge.  One  day  he  was  permanently  disabled  by  th« 
hoof  of  a  recalcitrant  animal,  who  did  not  like  his  ama- 
teur method  of  shoeing,  and  whom  he  had  vainly  tried 
to  soothe  by  a  solo  on  the  flute.  He  spent  the  remainder 
of  his  days  giving  lectures  on  the  faulty  structure  of 
society  in  the  taproom  of  the  "Blue  Lion." 

I  have  sometimes  wondered  whether  experts  in  edu- 
cation have  ever  noticed  how  exquisite  an  instrument  is 
the  human  hand,  how  quickly  it  responds  to  instruction, 
how  infinitely  more  worthy  of  trust  it  is  than  the  human 
brain,  how  far  more  certain  of  success  in  its  operations. 
!N"ow  85  per  cent,  of  our  population  have,  willy-nilly,  to 
earn  their  livings  by  their  hands,  in  tasks  that  scarcely 
make  any  demand  upon  the  brains.  Surely,  the  first 
question  we  have  to  ask  ourselves  is  this:  "How  can 
these  tasks  be  made  the  least  irksome,  the  most  tolerable, 
the  most  agreeable  to  the  workers,  so  that  they  may  have 
the  greatest  comfort  and  content,  and  perform  them  with 
goodwill  and  to  the  best  of  their  ability,  to  the  end  that 
the  whole  community,  of  whom  85  per  cent,  are  the 
workers  themselves,  shall  receive  the  greatest  benefit?" 

Bearing  in  mind  the  physiological  law  that  governs 
the  whole  matter,  that  all  bodily  activities  become  more 
agreeable  by  repetition,  that  all  conditions  of  life  be> 
come  more  bearable  the  longer  we  are  used  to  them,  we 
may  vary  the  question,  and  put  it  thus :  "How  shall  we 
educate  85  per  cent,  of  our  boys  and  girls,  so  that  in 
after  life  the  exercise  of  their  muscles  and  hands  in  their 
daily  duties  shall  not  be  grievous  to  them,  or  appear 
degrading;  so  that  such  work  as  carpentry  shall  give 
them  satisfaction  and  pleasure ;  so  that  even  such  work 
as  mining  and  iron  puddling  shall,  by  habit  and  con- 
firmation, become  acceptable  or  at  least  endurable,  and 


Popular  Education  263 

ahall  not  provoke  them  to  incessant  discontent  and  rebel- 
lion?" 

That,  sir,  is  the  first  and  chief  problem  of  Popular 
Education.  Just  that,  and  not:  "How  can  we  force  the 
greatest  number  of  these  boys  and  girls  to  pass  certain 
standards  of  secondary  education,  despite  their  faculties 
and  their  inclinations,  despite  the  obvious  fact  that  most 
of  them  have  inherited  more  muscle  than  brains,  de- 
spite the  fact  that  most  of  the  knowledge  so  pumped  into 
them  will  filter  out  in  a  month,  and  that  what  is  re* 
tained  will  be  very  doubtfully  and  indirectly  of  any  use 
to  them  ?" 

This  last  is  the  question  which  educational  experts  are 
now  busily  asking  themselves.  Being  concerned  with 
Education  rather  than  with  Life,  they  have  come  to 
think  that  Life  is  a  preparation  for  Education  instead  of 
seeing  that  Education  is  a  preparation  for  Life.  They 
are  like  Jane  Austen's  vicar,  who,  being  fond  of  gruel 
himself,  and  finding  it  agreeable  to  his  digestion,  sup- 
posed it  to  be  equally  agreeable  and  nourishing  to  every- 
body else,  and  set  down  all  his  hungry  guests  to  a  meal 
of  slops. 

It  is  primarily  a  question  of  getting  us  all  into  a  habit 
of  proficiency  and  reasonable  content  in  our  individual 
work  and  duty,  not  of  getting  us  all  to  pass  standards  in 
certain  accomplishments,  though  this  may  be  desirable 
when  once  our  first  object  is  achieved.  Would  you  say, 
sir,  that  the  majority  of  the  scholars  who  have  passed 
through  our  national  schools,  have  been  trained  into  a 
habit  of  proficiency  and  reasonable  content  in  their  in- 
dividual work  and  duty,  when  the  whole  industrial 
world  is  constantly  in  a  state  of  sulky  discontent,  or  of 
obstructive  revolt  ?  Would  you  say,  sir,  that  the  "eco- 
nomic injury"  done  to  the  country  from  this  cause,  does 


264  Patriotism  and 

not  far  outweigh  whatever  economic  benefit  may  result 
from  indiscriminately  forcing  advanced  "general"  edu- 
cation upon  everybody  ? 

What  habit  can  be  more  wholesome,  more  fruitful 
with  good  results  to  the  community,  and  therefore  more 
necessary  to  be  taught,  than  the  habit  of  getting  our 
own  living — and  this  as  early  as  possible,  provided  only 
that  our  health  does  not  suffer  too  severely? 

This  is  a  vexed  and  difficult  question.  It  is  not  to  be 
solved  by  a  blind  benevolence  that  hastens  to  endow  and 
multiply  weakness  and  misery  and  disease,  heedless  of 
all  the  reactions  it  sets  up  in  the  average  health  and 
strength  of  the  community.  In  this  sharpest  battle  and 
scurry  of  life  whereto  we  are  all  conscripted,  it  must 
needs  be  that  many  of  us  shall  be  maimed,  and  that 
some  of  us  shall  fall.  It  must  needs  be  that  the  health 
of  many  of  us  shall  suffer,  and  that  the  lives  of  some  of 
us  shall  be  shortened  and  sacrificed  by  reason  of  the 
daily  labour  that  falls  to  our  lot.  For  this  is  the  way 
that  Nature  takes  to  establish  a  sound  and  vigorous  race. 

It  happened  some  years  ago,  that  in  June  I  was  in 
the  South  of  France,  in  July  I  was  in  Brittany,  in  Au- 
gust I  was  in  the  Isle  of  Arran.  On  the  slopes  of  the 
Maritime  Alps,  the  sun  makes  the  conditions  of  life 
easy,  and  does  most  of  the  labour  in  the  gardens  and 
vineyards  and  olive  orchards.  Yet  the  peasants  gen- 
erally were  decrepit  and  degraded ;  many  of  them  were 
broken  with  toil  and  old  at  thirty.  In  Brittany,  where 
the  climate  is  harsher  and  more  bracing,  the  appearance 
and  bearing  of  the  peasantry  plainly  declared  a  higher 
average  of  health;  there  was  a  good  show  of  robust 
manhood  amongst  a  general  population  containing  many 
middling  and  sickly  ones.  But  in  the  Isle  of  Arran, 
where  the  sun  gives  small  encouragement  to  laziness, 


Popular  Education  265 

where  for  generations  the  stern  climate  has  flogged  the 
peasants  to  constant  exertion  to  gain  their  daily  bread, 
where  each  remorseless  winter  has  hurried  the  phthis- 
icky  and  weakly  ones  to  the  churchyard,  and  stayed 
them  from  breeding  their  like — under  these  stern  con- 
ditions, I  saw  not  one  man,  woman,  or  child,  who  did 
not  carry  a  certificate  of  vigorous  health  in  his  face. 

Clearly  we  are  not  living  in  a  world  where  every 
child's  physical  constitution  and  mental  capacity  can  be 
developed  to  the  utmost.  Let  us  indeed  cherish  our 
child-life  as  our  most  valuable  and  dearest  national 
asset,  but  let  us  not  cherish  it  so  unwisely  as  to  breed 
an  increasing  proportion  of  children  who  will  be  un- 
able to  meet  the  actual  conditions  and  inevitable  hard- 
ships of  life.  Let  us  beware  of  reactions.  If  there  is 
some  soul  of  goodness  in  things  evil,  so  also  there  is  some 
soul  of  evil  in  things  that  are  good  in  themselves — 
even  in  our  care  of  child-life.  And  we  may  be  sure 
that  Mature,  with  her  thoughtful,  kindly  cruelty,  will 
distil  it  out. 

The  doctors  are  doubtless  looking  into  this  matter, 
and  can  give  us  much  good  advice.  But  the  doctors  are 
chiefly  concerned  to  show  us  how  to  save  the  weak, 
rather  than  how  to  breed  the  strong.  We  shall  have  to 
call  in  the  biologist. 

In  my  ignorance  and  presumption,  I  have  already 
offered  you  so  much  unpalatable  advice,  sir,  that  I  pause 
before  I  overween  myself  still  further.  Yet  I  will  dare 
to  say  that  the  biologist  stands  behind  you  and  over  you 
in  this  matter  of  Popular  Education,  as  he  stands  be- 
hind and  over  so  many  of  our  social  reformers  and  poli- 
ticians, who  never  suspect  his  presence.  If  85  per  cent, 
of  our  population  have  to  get  their  living  by  manual 
labour,  it  is  clearly  necessary  that  we  should,  first  of 


266  Patriotism  and 

all,  breed  a  hardy  population,  whose  physique  and  po- 
tential muscular  power  roughly  approximate  to  our  na- 
tional requirements.  If  this  is  not  being  done,  inevit- 
ably we  shall  have  to  face  constant  and  increasing  "la- 
bour unrest,"  ever  threatening  us  with  social  disinte- 
gration. 

This  question  is  more  important  than  Education 
itself,  seeing  that  it  is  precedent,  and  must  finally  gov- 
ern the  methods,  the  amount,  the  variety,  and  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  Education  that  we  give  to  our  masses. 
For  before  we  begin  to  educate  our  children  at  all,  it  is 
surely  necesssary  for  us  to  inquire  how  we  can  educate 
them  in  such  a  way  as  to  enable  them  to  get  their  living 
by  means  that  are  within  their  capacities,  and  by  activi- 
ties that  are,  as  far  as  possible,  congenial  to  them. 

It  is  disquieting  to  hear  from  the  Prime  Minister  that 
England,  under  easier  conditions,  has  been  breeding  a 
greater  proportion  of  physically  unfit  than  Germany 
and  France.  Before  we  trouble  any  further  about 
Education,  perhaps  we  had  better  go  to  the  biologist, 
and  ask  him  a  few  questions,  such  as :  "Are  we  keeping 
an  increasing  balance  of  average  physical  health  amongst 
our  workers?  Is  their  physique  declining,  or  is  it  not 
improving  at  the  same  rate  as  that  of  certain  other  na- 
tions ?  Which  way  are  we  tending  ?  Are  we  breeding 
a  race  hardy  enough  to  endure  the  tremendous  physical 
strain  and  the  fierce  competition  of  the  coming  years, 
and  to  thrive  under  them  ?"  If  the  biologist  cannot  give 
us  satisfactory  answers  to  these  questions,  it  would  be 
wise  to  put  aside  most  other  educational  and  political 
matters,  and  set  to  work  under  his  direction  to  fortify 
the  physical  health  of  the  nation.  Certainly  no  other 
matter  of  internal  "reconstruction"  can  be  so  pressing 
as  this,  or  so  loudly  demand  instant  inquiry. 


Popular  Education  267 

I  am  sure,  sir,  you  will  readily  admit  that  the  Minis- 
try of  Education  is  directly  concerned  to  get  these 
questions  answered  by  the  biologist.  Eor  if  the  biolo- 
gist cannot  reassure  us  upon  this  vital  matter,  you  will 
be  in  the  unwelcome  position  of  giving  a  more  and  more 
bounteous  "general"  education  to  a  rising  generation 
who  will  be  less  and  less  physically  able  to  hold  their 
own,  and  who  will  find  it  increasingly  difficult  to  earn 
their  daily  bread,  while  you  are  increasingly  giving 
them  all  sorts  of  interesting  information  about  most 
other  subjects. 

Statistics  are  apt  to  take  strange  liberties  with  facts. 
When  we  remember  how  the  common  folk  of  England 
have  proved  themselves  in  the  last  four  years,  what  grit 
and  valour  and  endurance  they  have  shown,  we  refuse  to 
believe  that  the  stock  and  root  of  the  nation  is  unsound. 
But  it  is  evident  that  we  are  breeding  an  increasing 
number  of  the  physically  and  mentally  unfit,  who  can- 
not by  any  means  be  educated  in  the  wholesome  habit 
of  earning  their  own  living.  We  are  called  to  a  pro- 
longed consultation  with  the  biologist,  for  clearly  it  is 
more  important  to  get  ourselves  rightly  born,  than  to 
get  ourselves  rightly  educated. 

In  spite  of  the  Prime  Minister's  recruiting  statistics, 
we  have  faith  that  the  biologist  will  give  us  a  favourable 
general  report  on  the  health  of  the  nation.  At  any 
rate,  he  can  tell  us  whether  we  are  on  the  right  road; 
and  he  can  show  us  where  and  how  we  may  ease  and 
avert  the  rigour  of  natural  conditions  without  enfeebling 
our  race;  how  we  can  breed  an  increasing  number  of 
citizens  who  will  be  delighted  to  find  themselves  in  so 
pleasant  a  land  as  England,  and  delighted  to  do  their 
share  of  the  necessary  work  that  has  to  be  done.  Pray 
tell  us,  Mr.  Biologist,  how  we  can  rid  ourselves  of  this 


268  Patriotism  and 

festering  rebellion,  not  against  remedial  ills,  but 
against  plain  economic  laws,  against  the  fundamental 
conditions  of  human  life.  Instruct  us  how  we  can  shajw 
our  legislation  so  that,  while  not  one  waif  or  broken 
bit  of  humanity  is  left  uncared  for,  we  may  yet  dis- 
courage and  forbid  the  multiplication  of  those  whom 
Nature  would  reject  and  cast  into  outer  darkness.  Show 
us  how  we  may  be  found  helping  her  in  her  merciful 
work  of  repression,  instead  of  zealously  hindering  her 
and  defying  her. 

Assuming  that  the  biologist  will  relieve  us  of  any 
great  anxiety  as  to  the  general  physique  of  the  nation, 
we  might  further  ask  him  to  tell  us  whether  we  are 
breeding  muscles  and  brains  in  something  approaching 
those  proportions  which  the  necessary  manual  and  in- 
tellectual work  of  the  country  respectively  demand.  For 
there  must  be  distress  and  insurrection  if  there  is  any 
great  disparity  and  incompatibility  between  the  amount 
and  quality  of  the  various  kinds  of  labour  to  be  per- 
formed, and  the  respective  numbers  and  right  propor- 
tions of  the  labourers  who  are  physically  or  mentally 
capable  of  performing  it.  Here  again  we  may  hope  that 
the  biologist  will  tell  us  that  we  are  reasonably  well  sup- 
plied with  raw  human  material  in  the  right  proportions. 

This  granted,  it  is  necessary  that  this  vast  bulk  of 
human  material  should  be  sorted  out,  and  each  division 
of  it  rightly  trained  and  educated  to  its  own  work.  And 
as  the  social  machine  will  not  work  unless  some  85  per 
cent,  of  this  human  material  is  employed  in  manual 
labour,  it  is  surely  wiser  to  fit  it  to  its  job,  than  to  force 
it  to  its  job,  so  that  the  work  may  be  done  without  put- 
ting too  great  a  strain  on  the  labourer ;  without  injuring 
his  self-respect  and  doing  violence  to  his  feelings;  so 
that  when  he  is  building  a  house,  he  may  not  feel  that 


l 


Popular  Education  269 

he  ought  to  be  riding  in  his  motor-car  to  his  city  office, 
with  a  fur  rug  over  his  knees,  and  a  choice  Havana 
between  his  lips.  Doubtless  he  is  more  worthy  to  ride 
in  his  motor-car,  and  smoke  choice  Havanas  than  many 
men  who  are  doing  these  things.  Who  is  most  worthy 
to  ride  in  motor  cars  and  smoke  choice  Havanas,  is  a 
terribly  vexatious  problem  which  seems  to  defy  solu- 
tion. While  we  are  trying  to  solve  it  to  the  satisfaction 
of  everybody,  the  house  does  not  get  built,  nor  does 
any  work  get  done.  And  then  the  working  classes  are 
the  chief  sufferers.  I  remember  reading  in  the  Ameri- 
can papers,  an  address  delivered  by  Mr.  Carnegie  to  the 
boys  of  the  United  States.  He  advised  them  all  to  fol- 
low his  example,  and  they  might  all  become  eminent 
millionaires. 

Suppose,  sir,  tLat  while  85  per  cent,  of  our  popula- 
tion will  necessarily  have  to  get  their  daily  bread  by 
manual  labour,  you  are  educating  85  per  cent,  or  some 
large  proportion  of  them,  in  such  a  way  that  instead  of 
preparing  themselves  for  manual  labour,  their  chief 
hope  is  to  dodge  it,  and  to  get  their  living  in  some  "gen- 
teel7 ?  occupation  in  the  ranks  above  it.  Then  clearly 
much  of  the  manual  work  of  the  country  will  be  badly 
done ;  a  vast  number  of  badly  trained,  disappointed  per- 
sons will  be  doing  it  in  a  half-hearted,  discontented  way ; 
and  a  great  number  of  other  badly-trained,  disappointed 
persons  will  be  found  in  those  numerous  quasi-genteel 
occupations  which  make  little  demand  upon  the  muscles, 
and  less  upon  the  brains,  and  many  of  which  are  para- 
sitic, or  useless  to  the  community. 

Perhaps  you  may  have  noticed,  sir,  that  one  of  the  re- 
sults, or,  at  least,  one  of  the  accompaniments  of  Popular 
Education,  is  the  growth  of  a  large  class,  just  above  the 
actual  labouring  class,  who  have  assimilated  just  enough 


270  Patriotism  and 

"general  education"  to  make  hard  working  obnoxious  to 
them,  and  who  are  mentally  incapable  of  being  educated 
so  as  to  compete  successfully  for  any  worthy  or  digni- 
fied intellectual  employment.  Hence  a  certain  vulgarity 
and  shoddiness  and  vicious  taste  has  spread  through- 
out the  ranks  of  this  class,  and  downwards  into  large 
sections  of  the  neighbouring  labour  classes,  and  upwards 
into  large  sections  of  the  neighbouring  middle  classes. 
Hence  the  number  of  useless  and  hideous  things  that 
are  ticketed  in  the  shop  windows,  "Artistic !  Six  pence 
three  farthings." 

As  I  have  said,  we  get  a  true  measure  of  the  value 
and  tendency  of  Popular  Education  in  our  popular 
theatres.  We  also  get  it  in  our  popular  music.  Our 
most  popular  songs  are  mainly  models  of  bad  taste  in 
language,  mated  to  coarse,  empty  jingle.  They  please 
our  popularly  educated  public,  drive  true  lovers  of  music 
crazy  for  a  few  months,  and  are  then  forgotten.  They 
are,  perhaps,  not  much  worse  than  many  of  the  forgotten 
popular  songs  of  past  generations.  But  they  are  cer- 
tainly more  empty  and  meaningless  and  vulgar.  What 
it  concerns  us  to  note  is  that,  with  the  increasing  spread 
of  Popular  Education,  we  have  almost  lost  the  art  of 
writing  an  English  song  that  the  common  people  can 
delight  to  sing,  and  that  will  not  distress  our  true  mu- 
sicians. We  cannot  put  simple,  sincere  words  convey- 
veying  true  feeling,  to  simple,  sincere  music  conveying 
true  feeling.  Surely  this  implies  that  something  is 
wrong  with  the  general  education  of  our  people.  For  in 
all  ages  and  communities,  music  has  been  the  chief  de> 
light  and  recreation  and  solace  of  the  common  folk. 
The  popular  songs  of  a  people  are  windows  into  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  that  people.  They  are  the  surest 
indicators  and  revealers  of  its  intellectual  and  spiritual 


Popular  Education  271 

condition.  Judge  then,  sir,  what  is  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  condition  of  the  millions  whom  you  are  edu- 
cating, by  their  most  popular  songs.  "Would  you  think 
me  impertinent  if  I  were  to  send  you  a  bundle  of 
them? 

Again  we  have  to  note  that  this  vulgarity  and  vicious 
taste  so  prevalent  in  our  popular  music,  as  in  our  gen- 
eral life,  has  spread  downwards  and  upwards,  and  haa 
infected  all  classes.  We  do  not  seem  to  be  educating 
our  great  public ;  our  great  public  seems  to  be  educating 
its  teachers.  There  is,  however,  a  large  body  of  our 
labouring  classes  who  are  as  yet  free  from  this  vul- 
garity and  vicious  taste.  They  are  those  who  have  been 
the  least  under  the  influence  of  Popular  Education.  A 
labourer  who  is  doing  hard,  useful  work,  may  be  dirty, 
ignorant,  and  brutal;  but  he  is  not  vulgar.  Vulgarity 
has  to  be  learnt ;  it  has  to  be  inculcated  before  it  can  be 
practised. 

After  instilling  the  great  commandments,  the  first 
main  object  of  Popular  Education  is  to  train  our  masses 
so  that  they  may  do  their  individual  daily  work  thor- 
oughly, and  with  reasonable  content.  The  second  main 
object  of  Popular  Education  is  to  train  our  masses  to 
ornament  their  lives  with  simplicity,  grace  and  unpre- 
tentious beauty.  Would  you  say,  sir,  that  Popular  Edu- 
cation is  in  a  fair  way  to  attain  either  of  these  two 
main  objects?  Are  not  the  majority  of  our  labourers 
doing  their  work  badly  and  half-heartedly?  Are  they 
not  in  a  state  of  constant  and  growing  revolt  against  it  ? 
Is  not  the  ornament  of  our  common  life  for  the  most 
part  trumpery,  false,  debased,  vicious,  whether  we  take 
the  test  of  music,  songs,  plays,  popular  literature,  or 
household  furniture  and  decoration  ?  And  are  not  these 
evils  traceable  to  the  fact  that  Popular  Education  is, 


272  Patriotism  and 

to  a  growing  extent,  teaching  our  masses  the  things  that 
they  are  not  greatly  concerned  to  know,  and  is  not  teach- 
ing them  the  things  that  they  are  most  concerned  to  do  ? 
And  the  very  plain,  though  indirect  and  unintentional, 
effect  of  this  teaching  is  that  manual  labour  is  brought 
into  discredit,  and  becomes  abhorrent  to  the  bulk  of 
those  who  will  have  to  earn  their  living  by  it ;  while  the 
correlative  effect  is  that  we  are  fostering  the  growth  of 
a  large  class  of  miseducated  sixpenny-three-farthing  vul- 
garians, who  will  not  get  their  living  by  their  hands, 
and  cannot  usefully  and  worthily  get  it  by  their  brains. 

Many  of  these  have  been  most  helpful  during  the  war, 
and,  by  the  temptation  of  high  wages,  have  done  well  in 
those  numerous  temporary  occupations  where  no  spe- 
cial skill  was  required.  But  will  there  not  be  great  dis- 
content and  distress  amongst  them  when  we  settle  down 
to  peace  ? 

I  have  cordially  allowed  that  one  or  two  of  the  clauses 
in  your  new  Education  Act  will  afford  opportunities  for 
teaching  some  of  the  household  arts  and  crafts;  and 
doubtless  good  use  will  be  made  of  these  opportunities. 
But  if  we  are  to  remedy  the  evils  I  have  dwelt  upon 
or  avoid  their  increase,  does  not  our  whole  system  of 
Popular  Education  need  to  be  built  on  a  new  basis  ? 

We  now  start  by  asking  ourselves: 

"How  can  we  keep  our  boys  and  girls  from  perform- 
ing any  profitable  manual  labour  in  their  earlier  years  ?" 

"How  can  we  render  their  childhood  useless  to  the 
community  ?" 

"How  can  we  force  upon  them  all  the  largest  amount 
of  'genera?  education,  in  the  hope  that  some  of  it  may, 
at  some  time,  be  useful  to  some  of  them  ?" 

"How  can  we  keep  all  of  them  at  school  as  long  as 
possible,  thus  preventing  them  from  giving  their  best 


Popular  Education  273 

energies  to  their  daily  work  in  those  impressionable 
years  when  they  most  need  to  be  confirmed  in  steady 
habits  of  daily  toil,  and  thus  defrauding  the  community 
of  a  great  deal  of  valuable  and  necessary  labour  that, 
being  performed,  would  benefit  the  working  classes 
chiefly,  and  would  tend  to  bring  them  additional  com- 
fort and  content?" 

These  are  the  questions  we  now  ask  ourselves  in  edu- 
cating our  masses.  Ought  we  not  rather  to  ask  our- 
selves : 

"How  can  we  educate  these  boys  and  girls  so  that  the 
manual  labour  by  which  most  of  them  will  have  to  get 
their  living,  will  in  after  years  be  agreeable  to  them, 
or  in  the  more  exhausting  occupations,  will  be  as  little 
oppressive  and  intolerable  as  the  nature  of  the  work 
permits  ?" 

"Seeing  that  all  experience  teaches  that  those  things 
are  done  best  and  most  easily  throughout  life,  which  are 
most  thoroughly  learned  in  our  earliest  years,  how  can 
we,  without  injury  to  their  health,  give  as  many  as  pos- 
sible of  these  boys  and  girls  some  early  training  in  their 
probable  future  callings,  and  allow  them  to  practise 
these  callings  with  profit  to  themselves  and  the  commun- 
ity, at  as  early  an  age  as  possible  ?" 

"In  the  case  of  those  very  numerous  occupations  for 
which  no  preparation  can  be  given  at  school,  and  which 
will  employ  the  vast  majority  of  our  scholars,  how  can 
we  avoid  the  error  of  educating  our  future  workers 
away  from  their  future  work,  away  from  realities,  to- 
wards other  ends  and  aims,  and  in  such  a  manner  as 
will  make  them  envious,  sulky,  discontented,  and  dil- 
atory in  their  work,  to  the  serious  'economic  injury' 
of  the  country,  especially  of  the  working  classes  ?" 

"How  can  we  give  to  the  bulk  and  average  of  these 


274  Patriotism  and 

boys  and  girls  sufficient  'general  education'  to  meet  the 
ordinary  demands  of  daily  life,  without  forcing  upon 
all  of  them  miscellaneous  information  and  smatterings 
of  accomplishments,  which  tend  to  mental  sloppiness, 
to  the  spread  of  crude,  bad  tastes,  and  to  the  wide  dif- 
fusion of  spurious  sixpenny-three-farthing  culture?" 

"How  can  we  give  the  greatest  encouragement  to  any 
of  these  boys  and  girls  who  show  more  than  average 
ability,  or  who  possess  some  special  gift  or  talent  ?  How 
can  we  throw  open  the  gates  of  opportunity  as  widely  to 
them  as  to  the  richest  and  highest  in  the  land,  so  that 
their  gift  or  ability  may  not  be  crushed  and  lost,  but 
may  have  the  freest  course  to  declare  and  develop  itself, 
and  fructify  to  the  general  good  ?  How  can  we  give  to 
all  of  these  such  a  suitable  and  special  education,  as 
will  help  them  to  rise  to  any  high  position  for  which 
they  may  be  naturally  fitted  ?" 

"Seeing  that  universal,  indiscriminate,  'general*  edu- 
cation seems  to  lead  to  the  general  debasement  of  the 
public  taste,  to  the  extinction  of  originality  and  the  sup- 
pression of  genius,  to  the  vulgarization  of  our  amuse- 
ments, to  the  diffusion  of  sixpenny-three-farthing  cul- 
ture, and  the  multiplication  of  sixpenny-three-farthing 
objects  of  art,  how  can  we  educate,  or  uneducate,  or  re- 
frain from  educating  our  masses,  so  that  whatever  nat- 
ural sense  of  beauty  they  have,  may  not  be  deadened 
and  perverted,  and  their  leisure  desecrated  by  senseless 
delights,  but  so  that  all  the  ornamentation  of  common 
lives  and  homes  may  be  wise  and  thoughtful  and  exhil- 
arating and  spread  its  charm  over  our  whole  national 
life?" 

"In  the  insecurities  of  the  present,  and  the  uncertain- 
ties of  the  future,  in  view  of  our  great  responsibilities 
all  the  world  over,  how  can  we  give  all  our  growing 


Popular  Education  275 

boys  some  preliminary  training  in  the  defence  of  our 
Empire,  as  a  duty  that  they  may  be  called  upon  to  fulfil, 
and  that  should  be  equally  shared  by  all  classes  ?  How 
can  we  make  this  training  a  pleasurable  exercise,  a 
physical  and  moral  discipline  to  the  boys,  while  making 
it  also  the  foundation  of  our  scheme  of  national  de- 
fence, and  a  means  of  reducing  our  actual  standing 
army  to  the  lowest  national  requirements  ?" 

These  questions  appear  to  indicate  the  general  aims 
and  scope  of  a  system  of  Popular  Education  best  fitted 
to  the  present  needs  of  our  nation,  best  fitted  to  develop 
the  physical  and  mental  capacities  of  the  entire  popula- 
tion to  the  greatest  advantage  of  all,  and  therefore  most 
likely  to  bring  the  greatest  general  comfort,  prosperity, 
and  content.  Such  a  system  of  Popular  Education 
would  begin  by  recognizing  the  plain  fact  that  there  is 
a  vast  amount  of  manual  labour  to  be  done,  and  that 
this  manual  labour  must  necessarily  occupy  the  chief 
hours  and  the  best  energies  of  the  great  majority  of  our 
population. 

Therefore,  our  first  care  should  be  to  see  that  a  suf- 
ficient majority  is  not  educated  to  escape  from  manual 
labour,  but  so  far  as  is  possible,  is  educated  to  perform 
it,  and  this  in  the  prime  and  very  obvious  interest  of 
the  working  classes  themselves. 

Thus,  in  spite  of  the  private  opinions  and  wishes  of 
any  of  us,  a  broad  division  line  is  by  necessity  fixed 
between  those  children  who  will  have  to  get  their  living 
by  the  labour  of  their  hands  and  muscles,  and  those  who 
will  have  to  get  their  living  by  the  exercise  of  their 
brains.  This  line  is  very  loose  and  ill-defined,  and  can 
be  easily  passed,  but  it  is  sufficiently  distinct  to  separate 
the  great  body  of  our  scholars  into  two  main  classes; 
and  to  mark  them  out  for  separate  educational  treat- 


276  Patriotism  and 

ment,  as  soon  as  they  have  been  thoroughly  taught  the 
great  commandments,  and  have  been  given  a  quite  ele- 
mentary training  suitable  to  them  all. 

Within  these  two  main  divisions  of  the  work  neces- 
sary to  be  done,  there  are  several  sub-divisions.  There 
is  scarcely  any  manual  labour  that  does  not  call  for 
some  exercise  of  the  brain ;  there  are  many  intellectual 
occupations  that  call  for  considerable  dexterity  of  the 
hands.  But,  very  roughly,  the  two  main  divisions  of 
labour  remain  permanently  distinct,  and,  after  a  certain 
age,  call  for  quite  separate  educational  treatment  for 
the  two  classes  of  scholars.  In  a  much  less  degree,  the 
various  subdivisions  of  labour  within  each  of  the  main 
classes,  call  for  differential  education  for  the  scholars 
who  will  have  to  get  their  living  by  occupations  that  de- 
mand differing  aptitudes  and  differing  physical  or  men- 
tal capacities. 

We  will  now  turn  from  the  work  to  be  done  to  the 
boys  and  girls  who  will  have  to  earn  their  living  by 
doing  it. 

We  will  assume  that  the  biologist  has  satisfied  us  that 
the  root  and  stock  of  the  nation  is  sound,  that  it  is  not 
deteriorating  in  comparison  with  competing  nations,  and 
that  the  natural  physical  and  mental  capacities  of  our 
millions  of  boys  and  girls  vary  in  the  right  proportions, 
that  is,  in  some  rough  approximation  and  adaptability 
to  the  varied  kinds  and  amounts  of  labour  they  will  be 
called  upon  to  perform. 

This  adaptability  of  the  quantity  and  quality  of  mus- 
cles and  brains  respectively  to  the  amount  and  kinds 
of  manual  and  brain  work  to  be  done,  is  the  first  con- 
dition of  any  healthy  and  stable  civilization.  It  is  the 
keystone  upon  which  rests  the  ultimate  security  of  the 
State.'  A  system  of  Popular  Education  which  neglects 


Popular  Education  277 

to  train  the  best  brains  of  the  country  to  their  best  uses, 
stands  obviously  condemned.  Much  more  deserving  of 
much  sterner  condemnation,  is  a  system  of  Popular 
Education  which  trains  all  the  inferior  brains  of  a 
country  to  uses  for  which  they  are  naturally  unfitted, 
and  which  neglects  to  train  the  hands  and  muscles  of 
the  country  towards  the  work  for  which  they  are  fitted, 
and  which  calls  for  performance  before  any  effective 
brain  work  can  be  done  at  all.  Surely  such  a  system  of 
Popular  Education  will  prove  to  be  more  mischievous  in 
the  end,  than  a  system  of  Popular  Education  which 
neglects  to  train  its  best  brains  to  their  best  uses.  For 
the  best  brains  have  an  inveterate  habit  of  educating 
themselves.  They  cannot  help  it,  and  indeed  seem  to 
be  encouraged  by  difficulties,  as  ten  thousands  of  in- 
stances prove. 

Therefore,  it  should  be  a  chief  concern  of  the  Ministry 
of  Education,  firstly  to  estimate  the  amount  and  kinds 
of  manual  labour  that  must  necessarily  be  done,  and  to 
train  a  sufficient  number  of  children  towards  doing  it, 
or  at  least  scrupulously  to  avoid  training  the  majority 
of  children  away  from  doing  it ;  and,  secondly  and  con- 
junctively, to  estimate  the  amount  of  brain  work  that 
it  is  necessary  or  desirable  to  get  done,  and  to  train  a 
sufficient  number  of  children  of  the  best  mental  capaci- 
ties towards  doing  it.  In  this  way  we  shall  roughly 
ensure  that  the  manual  labour  of  the  country  will  be 
mainly  done  by  those  who  are  physically  best  suited  to 
do  it,  and  also  that  the  far  more  important  brain  work 
of  the  country  will  be  mainly  done  by  those  who  are 
mentally  best  suited  to  do  it ;  we  shall  preserve  a  steady 
balance  between  the  different  classes  of  workers,  and  get 
an  approximately  right  apportionment  of  the  various 
kinds  of  labour.  When  this  balance  and  apportionment 


278  Patriotism  and 

are  upset,  when  eighty-five  square  physical  pegs  are 
struggling  to  force  themselves  into  fifteen  round  mental 
holes,  the  State  is  tending  towards  insecurity,  confusion, 
and  anarchy — as  every  day  more  plainly  shows  us,  if  we 
will  open  our  eyes  to  facts,  and  cease  to  fondle  our 
whimsies. 

Let  us  suppose  a  stretch  of  country  where  coal  and 
iron  abound,  and  which,  by  an  artificial  arrangement 
of  society,  has  been  peopled  almost  exclusively  by  a  deli- 
cate refined  race  of  artists,  scholars,  and  thinkers,  the 
vast  majority  of  whom  are  physically  unfitted  for  rough 
manual  labour.  We  can  readily  see  that  in  the  course 
of  time,  Mature  would  remove  such  inhabitants,  and 
would  entirely  change  the  breed  of  men  in  that  district. 
Meanwhile,  muscular  labour,  being  very  scarce,  would  be 
very  highly  paid,  and  would  probably  spend  its  money 
and  leisure  in  coarse  amusements  suited  to  its  tastes. 
The  artists,  and  scholars,  and  thinkers,  being  largely 
superfluous,  would  be  very  badly  paid ;  would  be  more 
and  more  impoverished  and  discontented,  and  would 
tend  to  become  ineffective  and  degenerate.  Their  con- 
dition would  be  only  made  the  worse  by  educating  the 
manual  labourers  to  be  artists  and  scholars  and  thinkers ; 
for,  by  the  hypothesis,  we  have  already  too  many  of 
them  for  the  natural  resources  of  the  country  to  support. 
NOT  would  the  manual  labourers  themselves  be  much 
benefited  by  educating  them  all  to  be  artists  and  scholars 
and  thinkers;  for  it  is  their  special  function  to  sup- 
plant the  superfluous  artists  and  scholars  and  thinkers, 
and  thus  develop  the  natural  resources  of  the  country 
to  the  best  advantage  for  the  whole  community.  There 
would  doubtless  be  many  of  the  manual  labourers  who 
would  like  to  be  artists  and  scholars  and  thinkers,  and 
who  would  be  naturally  fitted  for  such  vocations ;  but  so 


Popular  Education  279 

far  as  they  were  indulged,  the  difficulties  and  inconven- 
iences of  the  whole  population  would  only  be  aggravated, 
and  the  economic  disorder  increased.  The  equilibrium 
of  the  situation  would  only  be  restored  when  a  sufficient 
number  of  the  artists  and  scholars  and  thinkers  had 
been  starved  out,  or  when  the  greater  part  of  them  had, 
after  much  suffering  and  discontent,  adapted  them- 
selves to  manual  labour. 

I  have  put  an  extreme  case  where  the  great  majority 
of  the  population  were  born  with  natural  incapacities 
for  the  work  that  they  were  called  upon  to  do.  But  for 
all  practical  purposes,  it  matters  not  whether  men  are 
born  with  incapacities,  or  whether  they  are  educated 
into  them.  The  result  is  the  same;  a  certain  number 
of  workers  are  disabled,  or  partially  disabled,  and  do 
not  perform  the  labour  that  is  necessary  to  be  done 
for  the  community,  or  do  it  grudgingly  and  imperfectly. 
And  thus  the  country  suffers  a  .great  "economic  injury," 
which  I  am  afraid  we  must  put  to  the  debit  of  "gen- 
eral" education. 

How  can  we  tell  whether  any  considerable  number 
of  our  population  are  being  educated  away  from  the  par- 
ticular labour,  or  kind  of  labour  that  the  general  wel- 
fare of  the  State  calls  upon  them  to  perform?  Very 
clearly  by  the  rates  of  pay  which  the  various  classes 
of  labour  receive  for  the  work  that  they  do. 

I  am  wholly  of  opinion  that  hard,  disagreeable  skilled 
work  should  be  very  highly  paid ;  indeed,  I  am  of  opin- 
ion that  all  useful  work  should  be  very  highly  paid. 
But  unfortunately  the  rates  of  wages  are  not  regulated 
by  my  opinion,  or  by  the  opinions  of  the  workers  them- 
selves. The  rates  of  wages  are  regulated  by  severe  eco- 
nomic laws,  which  cannot  be  broken  without  calling 
forth  reactions  very  disagreeable  to  the  workers.  As 


280  Patriotism  and 

soon  as  the  Russian  revolution  was  proclaimed,  the  gas 
workers  of  Odessa  voted  that  their  wages  should  be 
eighty  pounds  a  month.  The  gas  workers  are  now  starv- 
ing and  rioting  in  misery  with  the  rest  of  the  popula- 
tion ;  Odessa  is  in  darkness,  perilously  in  need  of  some 
illumination  in  its  streets  and  homes,  more  perilously  in 
need  of  some  illumination  on  the  working  of  economic 
laws. 

The  comparative  rates  of  pay  in  various  occupations 
give  us  a  very  fair  rough  measure  of  how  far  the  popu- 
lation of  a  country  has,  in  its  different  classes  and  ca- 
pacities, been  wisely  and  suitably  educated  towards  the 
performance  of  those  labours  and  duties  in  which  its 
members  will  be  severally  engaged,  and  by  which  they 
will  have  to  earn  their  daily  bread.  Professor  Wallace, 
at  the  end  of  his  opening  lecture1  this  season,  gives 
some  examples  of  the  scale  of  wages  received  by  cer- 
tain classes  of  manual  and  brain  workers. 

I  am  sure  you  would  agree,  sir,  that  no  kind  of 
ordinary,  everyday  brain  work  is  more  honourable,  im- 
portant, and  responsible  than  that  of  a  School  teacher ; 
requiring,  as  it  does,  not  only  a  rather  high  and  varied 
education,  but  also  good  manners,  good  habits,  good  con- 
duct, good  taste,  tact,  patience,  self-control,  authority, 
sympathy,  skill  in  handling  children,  and  a  personality 
that  is  not  repellent  to  them.  What  occupation  deserves 
more  liberal  pay,  deserves  something  more  than  a  living 
wage  ?  What  would  you  consider  to  be  a  suitable  salary 
for  a  school  teacher  in  a  town  like  Arbroath,  with  its 
22,700  inhabitants?  The  Arbroath  School  Board  offer 
£80  a  year  to  one  who  ought  to  possess  all  these  accom- 
plishments, if  the  training  of  your  scholars  in  that  town 
is  not  to  suffer  in  some  respects. 

1  Opening  Lecture,  p.  28   (Oliver  and  Boyd,  Edinburgh,  6d). 


Popular  Education  281 

Again,  what  manual  work  calls  for  less  skill,  or 
thought,  or  knowledge  of  any  kind,  calls  for  less  care 
in  habits,  conduct,  manners,  dress,  or  character,  than 
that  of  a  scavenger — its  one  desirable,  but  not  necessary 
qualification,  being  a  diminished  sensibility  of  the  ol- 
factory nerves.  What  would  you  consider,  sir,  to  be  a 
suitable  salary  for  an  Arbroath  scavenger,  comparing 
his  work  and  responsibilities  with  the  work  and  respon- 
sibilities of  an  Arbroath  school  teacher  ?  The  town  pays 
its  scavengers  £101  18s.  per  annum,  that  is,  over  twen- 
ty-five per  cent,  more  wages  than  it  pays  its  school 
teachers. 

What  treasure  houses  of  social  and  economic  infor- 
mation are  these  advertisement  columns  of  newspapers ! 
Let  us  take  another  sample. 

The  Bath  City  Council  and  Education  Committee 
require  an  assistant  in  the  School  of  Commerce  and 
Languages.  This,  again,  is  a  post  which  seems  to  de- 
mand that  its  occupant  shall  possess  rather  high  and 
varied  qualifications  and  accomplishments.  He  is  of- 
fered £90  a  year.  Meantime  the  "Daily  Chronicle" 
offers  £208  a  year  (£4  a  week),  with  permanent  employ- 
ment and  easy  hours,  to  a  ragpicker — a  calling  which, 
like  scavenging,  demands  neither  skill  of  hand  or  brain, 
nor  any  qualification  of  character  or  conduct. 

How  excellent  a  thing  is  Education !  How  far  more 
excellent  is  plenty  of  good  bread  and  cheese  and  beer ! 

Is  it  not,  sir,  a  grave  reproach  to  your  department 
that  a  debased  and  servile  employment  like  ragpicking, 
should  be  paid  more  than  two  and  a  half  times  as  highly 
as  school  teaching  ?  Doubtless,  sir,  you  will  consider  it 
advisable  to  redress  this  grievance  of  your  teachers,  and 
to  see  they  have  no  cause  to  envy  the  affluence  of  the 
happy  ragpickers. 


282  Patriotism  and 

It  is  clearly  impossible  to  reduce  the  pay  of  the  rag- 
pickers. They  wouldn't  like  it ;  and  they  all  have  votes. 
We  must  raise  the  pay  of  the  teachers.  To  what  figure 
shall  we  raise  it  ?  If  knowledge  and  educational  attain- 
ments, good  conduct  and  character,  are  not  to  be  de- 
spised by  our  masses,  and  less  esteemed  than  unintelli- 
gent ignorance  and  the  meanest  unskilled  labour,  we 
must  raise  our  teachers'  pay  till  at  least  it  equals  the  pay 
of  the  ragpickers.  You  will  not,  I  am  sure,  cast  so  great 
a  slur  upon  educational  accomplishments  as  to  pay  for 
them  at  a  less  rate  than  is  paid  for  ragpicking.  And 
a  thousand  pities  it  is  that  such  dignified,  important, 
and  skilled  brain  work  as  school  teaching,  does  not  au- 
tomatically command  a  far  higher  rate  of  wages  than 
the  commonest  and  vilest  slopwork  of  the  streets.  How 
comes  this  about?  We  must  inquire  how  it  is  that  our 
market  prices  for  ragpicking  and  school  teaching  are 
so  disproportionately  fixed. 

Meantime,  sir,  very  respect  for  the  great  cause  of 
Education  itself,  urges  you  to  raise  the  financial  status 
of  our  teaching  staff  to  the  financial  status  of  ragpickers. 
If  you  would  leave  them  without  just  and  crying  reason 
for  complaints  and  strikes,  you  can  scarcely  do  less  than 
this.  That  is,  you  must  artificially  pay  them  two  and 
a  half  times  as  much  as  they  are  worth  in  the  labour 
market. 

Will  not  that  be  taking  a  step  on  a  very  dangerous 
road?  For  it  seems  that  all  other  classes  of  manual 
and  brain  labourers  are  also  demanding  higher  wages — 
demanding  wages  that  are  regulated,  not  by  the  opera- 
tion of  economic  laws,  but  by  their  own  estimate  of 
what  they  are  worth,  or  what  they  would  like  to  get. 
And  the  same  economic  laws  that,  in  the  present  rela- 
tive abundance  of  superficial  intellectual  accomplish- 


Popular  Education  283 

ments,  and  the  present  relative  scarcity  of  willing  man- 
ual labour — the  same  economic  laws  that  have  already 
fixed  the  pay  of  ragpickers  at  more  than  two  and  a  half 
times  the  pay  of  school  teachers,  will  continue  to  work 
towards  the  same  result,  and  will  tend  to  raise  the  pay 
of  ragpickers  till  it  reaches  a  modest  competence  of  £500 
per  annum,  while  the  teachers  will  be  grumbling  and 
languishing  on  a  paltry  £200. 

We  are  daily  receiving  the  plainest  evidence  that  the 
price  of  one  article,  or  of  one  kind  of  labour,  cannot 
be  inflated  without  causing  an  inflation  in  the  prices 
of  other  articles  and  other  kinds  of  labour.  Thus  we 
continue  to  blow  our  roseate  bubbles  till  they  burst. 

When  the  gas  workers  of  Odessa  vote  themselves 
eighty  pounds  a  month  wages,  we  plainly  perceive  that 
they  are  building  an  unsound  social  structure.  And 
surely  enough  the  social  structure  cracks,  and  falls  in 
ruin  in  a  few  weeks.  When,  as  in  England  to-day,  we 
find  that  an  occupation  which  calls  for  knowledge,  in- 
telligence, educational  attainments,  good  conduct,  and 
some  refinement  of  manner,  dress,  and  habits — when  we 
find  that  such  an  occupation  is  paid  considerably  less 
than  half  what  is  paid  for  vagabond,  ignorant,  unskilled 
labour  which  can  be  performed  by  anyone  without  the 
least  education,  can  we  not  perceive  that  we  also  are 
building  an  unsound  social  structure  ? 

How  comes  it  that  ragpicking  is  so  inordinately  paid, 
and  is  in  such  a  state  of  careless,  easy  aifluence,  com- 
pared with  school  teaching?  Plainly  because  we  have 
been  producing  and  training  school  teachers  and  rag- 
pickers in  wrong  proportions,  having  regard  to  the 
amounts  and  kinds  of  work  necessary  to  be  done.  The 
wide  diffusion  of  Popular  Education  has  brought  about 
a  relative  abundance  of  superficial  intellectual  accom- 


284  Patriotism  and 

plishments,  and  a  relative  scarcity  of  manual  labour 
willing  to  perform  the  most  ordinary  everyday  tasks. 

A  certain  irreducible  amount  of  manual  labour  must 
be  performed  for  every  one  of  us  that  comes  into  the 
world.  We  must  all  be  fed,  clothed,  shod,  housed,  and 
provided  with  many  other  necessaries  of  life,  before  we 
can  be  educated,  or  even  be  fit  to  receive  education. 
Therefore  I  respectfully  submit  to  you,  sir,  that  these 
are  the  fundamental  questions  we  have  to  ask:  "How 
much,  and  what  kinds  of  manual  labour  must  neces- 
sarily be  done  for  our  forty  millions  of  people  ?  How 
can  we  first  and  best  educate  our  masses  to  do  this  im- 
perative manual  work  carefully  and  thoroughly,  and 
so  far  as  may  be,  willingly  and  without  incessant  dis- 
turbance of  the  State,  and  dislocation  of  social  life?" 
When  we  have  answered  these  questions,  when  we  have 
laid  out  an  Educational  scheme  that  shall  first  take  ac- 
count of  these  first  and  urgent  national  necessities,  and 
shall  first  provide  for  them,  we  can  go  on  to  ask,  "How 
much  general  and  advanced  education  can  we  give  to 
all  who  are  likely  to  profit  by  it,  and  to  all  who  care  to 
avail  themselves  of  it  ?"  And  we  can  then  be  very  lib- 
eral in  giving  "general"  education,  as  indeed  every  one 
would  wish  to  be. 

For,  all  these  considerations  being  duly  weighed,  and 
all  these  urgent  national  necessities  being  duly  provided 
for,  I  will  still  cordially  agree  with  you  that  "no  coun- 
try in  the  long  run  suffers  an  economic  injury  from  an 
improvement  in  the  general  education  of  its  population." 
A  soundly  educated  Englishman  is  wanted  all  the 
world  over;  a  half-educated  Englishman  is  wanted  in 
very  few  countries;  a  mis-educated  Englishman  is 
wanted  nowhere — certainly  not  in  England. 

Again,  we  $aay  remind  ourselves  that  if  this  neces- 


Popular  Education  285 

sary  manual  work  is  not  done,  or  is  done  imperfectly, 
it  is  the  workers  themselves  who  are  the  chief  sufferers. 
And  they  will  assuredly  suffer  far  more  grievously  if 
they  are  stinted  in  the  necessaries  which  manual  la- 
bour provides  for  them,  than  if  they  are  stinted  in  the 
items  of  information  provided  by  "general"  education. 
It  is  harder  to  go  short  of  food  than  of  a  knowledge 
of  Roman  history;  to  nine  out  of  ten  of  us,  a  sack 
of  coal  is  worth  more  than  a  cartload  of  mathematics; 
and  a  pair  of  good  stout  boots  on  a  working  man's  feet, 
are  better  than  a  hundred  crudely  conceived  social 
problems  in  his  head.  We  are  about  to  receive  some 
very  rude  enlightenment  on  the  comparative  value  of 
all  these  commodities. 

In  view  of  the  present  alarming  economic  situation, 
would  you  say,  sir,  that  the  vast  numbers  of  our  popu- 
lation who  must  necessarily  be  employed  in  manual 
labour,  are  receiving  in  our  schools,  a  sound  and  suit- 
able training  for  their  life's  work?  Would  you  not 
say  that  a  large  and  increasing  number  of  them  are 
being  educated  away  from  it,  in  the  hope  of  escaping 
from  it,  and  in  the  certainty  of  being  dissatisfied  with 
it?  How  else  do  you  account  for  the  underpayment 
of  school  teachers  and  many  other  more  or  less  skilled 
brain  workers,  in  comparison  with  unskilled  labourers  ? 
How  else  do  you  account  for  the  abundance  of  use- 
less, superficial,  intellectual  accomplishments,  and  the 
relative  scarcity  of  willing  manual  labour?  How  else 
do  you  account  for  the  tawdry  shoddiness  and  staple 
ugliness  of  our  urban  life?  How  else  do  you  account 
for  the  badness  and  inefficiency  of  so  much  of  the  work 
that  is  done  for  working  men  and  working  class  homes  ? 

Without  Popular  Education  our  carpenters  and 
builders  and  labourers  were  concentrated  upon  their 


286  Patriotism  and 

work,  and  knowing  it  thoroughly,  and  taking  some 
pleasure  and  pride  in  it,  they  naturally  and  uncon- 
sciously spread  a  robe  of  beauty  over  our  land. 

What  else  is  it  but  this  crude,  superficial,  universal 
mis-education  that,  absorbing  our  thoughts  and  dissi- 
pating our  energies,  makes  so  much  of  our  labour  un- 
profitable to  the  State ;  and  so  much  of  our  leisure  un- 
profitable to  ourselves  ?  What  else  is  it  but  this  same 
crude,  superficial,  universal  mis-education  that,  flatter- 
ing the  ignorance  and  inflaming  the  envies  of  the 
masses,  to-day  shakes  every  social  structure  in  Europe, 
and  threatens  everywhere  to  put  the  wise  under  the  do- 
minion of  fools,  the  workers  under  the  dominion  of 
the  talkers,  the  industrious  under  the  dominion  of  the 
slothful,  and  the  honest  under  the  dominion  of  thieves ; 
gives  bounties  to  disease  and  weakness  and  laziness  and 
ignorance,  and  lays  burdens  upon  health  and  diligence 
and  thrift  and  intelligence;  discourages  discipline  and 
obedience,  and  exalts  revolt  and  disorder;  makes  the 
servant  the  master,  and  the  master  the  servant,  and 
engages  us  all  to  turn  the  pyramid  of  society  upside 
down,  in  the  vain  effort  to  make  it  stand  upon  its  apex  ? 

The  effect  of  giving  a  disproportionate  amount  of 
compulsory  superficial  intellectual  training  to  every- 
body, is  to  make  it  cheap  and  useless,  alike  to  the  ma- 
jority of  its  possessors  and  to  the  community,  while  it 
draws  away  a  great  number  of  manual  workers  at  a 
time  when  we  are  sorely  in  need  of  their  vigorous  mus- 
cles and  nimble  fingers.  Superficial  intellectual  at- 
tainments are  the  veriest  drug  in  the  market.  This 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  you  can  get  school  teachers 
at  £80  a  year.  You  will  not  get  them  with  the  many 
qualifications  and  abilities  which  I  have  enumerated 
as  necessary  and  desirable  for  this  most  important 


Popular  Education  287 

work.  Their  average  mental  capacities  and  acquire- 
ments are  indicated  by  the  salary  they  will  take,  which 
is  less  than  that  of  a  tolerable  typist,  and  of  many  other 
competitors  in  the  less  skilled  kinds  of  brain  work.  We 
have  here  a  means  of  gauging  the  general  quality  of 
the  instruction  and  training  that  is  being  given  to  our 
millions  of  scholars.  And  when  you  require  teachers 
with  higher  mental  qualifications  for  your  continuation 
classes,  they  are  not  to  be  found,  and  you  have  to  pro- 
vide fresh  educational  machinery  for  training  them. 
That  is,  you  have  to  call  a  further  conscription  of  avail- 
able manual  labour,  at  the  same  time  making  it  more 
scarce,  inept,  and  discontented. 

All  these  consequences  and  complications  are  only 
what  we  might  have  expected.  For  generations  past, 
Nature  has  been  busily  fitting  out  the  vast  numbers  of 
English  children  with  physical  and  mental  qualifica- 
tions in  rough  approximation  to  the  amounts  of  man- 
ual and  brain  work  necessary  to  be  done  in  the  country. 
Her  process  has  been  that  which  I  described  in  the 
imaginary  coal  and  iron  district,  peopled  exclusively 
with  scholars  and  artists  and  thinkers.  She  has  elimi- 
nated all  those  who  were  unfitted  to  the  kinds  of  la- 
bour that  necessarily  had  to  be  performed  in  that  dis- 
trict, so  that  its  resources  might  be  developed  to  the 
general  advantage. 

The  infinite  multiplication  of  machines  does  not  call 
for  a  higher  average  of  mental  and  intellectual  abili- 
ties. On  the  contrary,  it  calls  for  a  diminished  exer- 
cise of  the  brains,  and  for  a  greater  number  of  workers 
with  inferior  mental  capacities.  It  demands  far  less 
intelligence  to  tend  a  machine  than  to  thatch  a  house, 
or  shepherd  a  flock,  or  till  a  garden,  or  make  a  piece 
of  hand  lace. 


288  Patriotism  and 

Now  Nature,  being  always  busy  at  this  process  of 
elimination  and  adaptation,  has  probably  sorted  out 
your  scholars  for  you  in  something  approaching  the 
right  proportions.  She  has  probably  supplied  you  with 
something  like  fifteen  per  cent,  of  boys  and  girls  whose 
brains  are  worth  cultivating  to  their  utmost  capacity, 
and  who  will  repay  the  State  for  all  the  education  you 
can  give  them.  She  has  probably  supplied  you  with 
something  like  eighty-five  per  cent,  of  boys  and  girls 
with  brains  of  lower  and  varying  capacities,  who  should 
be  educated  according  to  these  lower  and  varying  ca- 
pacities, and  to  do  the  work  most  urgently  required  by 
the  State.  Some  of  them  with  quite  ordinary,  or  only 
second-rate,  brains  will  be  found  to  have  some  special 
gift,  as  for  the  stage,  or  for  music,  or  for  painting. 
These  should  be  set  apart  for  special  training;  many 
of  them  need  not  much  more  than  to  be  left  alone, 
for  they  will  eagerly  pursue  and  cultivate  their  natural 
gift.  But  all  such  boys  and  girls  should  be  given  the 
greatest  chance  to  develop  their  one  talent  at  the  earliest 
age;  for  it  is  by  removing  all  difficulties  from  their 
paths,  and  by  fostering  their  special  gifts  to  the  best 
fulfilment-— it  is  by  such  means,  sir,  that  you  will  pro- 
vide our  common  people  with  civilizing  and  satisfying 
pleasures,  and  educate  them  in  the  wise  enjoyment  of 
their  leisure. 

I  will  remind  you,  sir,  that  some  months  ago,  you 
refused  permission  for  children  to  play  in  five  of 
Shakespeare's  most  popular  plays.  I  will  say  again, 
very  plainly,  that  you  were  then  not  only  defeating 
the  best  educational  training  for  some  of  the  children 
in  the  work  for  which  they  were  most  fitted,  but  that 
you  were  also  tending  to  defeat  the  best  educational 


Popular  Education  289 

training  and  wisest  amusement  for  the  masses  of  the 
adult  population. 

These  children  I  have  glanced  at  are,  however,  a  very 
small  minority  of  the  many  millions  that  come  under 
your  jurisdiction.  In  view,  however,  of  the  great 
value  to  the  community  of  their  special  gifts,  it  is  im- 
portant that  these  children  should  be  carefully  selected 
and  segregated,  and  that  their  Education  should  he 
specialized,  and  directed  to  the  main  end  of  cultivating 
their  natural  gifts. 

The  vast  majority  of  the  remaining  many  millions 
will  necessarily  he  employed  in  manual  labour,  or  in 
those  unintellectual  occupations  where  literary  and  edu- 
cational accomplishments  will  be  of  no  possible  service 
to  them,  but  will  rather  make  them  indisposed  towards 
their  work,  and  incapable  of  performing  it  with  care 
and  diligence.  Having  regard  to  the  immense  amount 
of  skilled  manual  labour  which  is  loudly  crying  out 
for  muscles  and  hands  in  all  parts  of  our  Empire,  what 
better  service  could  you  render  to  the  State,  and  to 
these  future  workers,  than  to  train  as  many  of  them 
as  possible,  and  as  early  as  possible,  towards  the  prac- 
tice of  their  future  callings,  so  far  as  these  can  be 
taught  at  school ;  to  abstain  from  educating  the  remain- 
der of  them  away  from  their  future  callings;  and,  so 
far  as  manual  labour  is  concerned,  to  set  them  all  free 
to  pursue  it,  in  the  measure  that  it  will  not  injure 
average  healthy  children. 

I  think  I  see  millions  of  willing  little  arms  stretched 
out  to  you  from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  beseeching 
you,  "Give  us  something  to  do  I  Give  us  something  to 
make,  that  we  may  early  begin  to  take  a  pride  in  the 
work  of  our  hands,  and  may  not  be  ashamed  of  it! 


290  Patriotism  and 

Educate  us  chiefly  in  what  it  most  concerns  us  to  do, 
and  cease  trying  to  cram  a  quart  of  useless  knowledge 
into  our  poor  bewildered  little  pint-pot  brains !" 

That  million,  or  thereabouts,  of  working-class  homes 
that  have  to  be  built — why  should  not  healthy  working- 
class  children  be  allowed  to  lend  a  hand  in  building 
them  in  their  holiday  time,  provided  only  that  care  is 
taken  that  they  are  not  overworked  ?  And  why  should 
they  not  be  paid  for  such  a  service  to  the  working 
classes  ?  The  houses  are  urgently  needed ;  the  labourers 
are  few;  there  are  thousands  of  our  elder  children 
whose  leisure  hours  would  be  far  better  employed  in 
jobs  of  rough  carpentry  and  masonry  than  in  idling 
about  the  streets,  and  whose  physical  and  moral  health 
would  gain  rather  than  suffer  by  such  employment 
At  the  same  time,  these  children  would  be  given  a 
direct  and  practical  interest  in  solving  what  is,  and  will 
remain,  one  of  the  most  pressing  problems  of  our  mod- 
ern civilization — "How  shall  we  house  our  workers  in 
health  and  comfort  and  reasonable  content,  and  add 
some  daily  beauty  to  their  lives?  How  shall  we  make 
their  dwellings  wholesome  and  convenient  to  them, 
and  pleasant  to  look  upon,  so  that  the  outskirts  of  our 
towns  may  cause  us  to  rejoice,  and  not  to  shudder,  as 
we  approach  them?" 

I  suppose,  sir,  you  will  allow  that  to  be  one  of  the 
most  pressing  problems  of  our  internal  economy  ?  That 
problem  is  not  to  be  solved  by  "general"  education; 
it  is  only  to  be  solved  by  work — work  that  is  special- 
ized and  trained  to  that  end.  "General"  education  will 
indeed7  make  the  evil  more  perceptible,  but  it  will  not 
cure  it.  It  will  merely  tend  to  cause  more  discontent. 

You  have  probably  in  your  elementary  schools,  an 
overwhelming  amount  of  healthy  young  muscular  hu- 


Popular  Education  291 

man  material  that  could  be  trained  to  accomplish  a 
great  part  of  this  most  urgent  national  work.  Why  not 
select  a  large  corps  of  your  little  scholars  who  are  physi- 
cally suited,  give  them  a  special  training,  and  set  them 
free  at  the  age  of  twelve  or  fourteen  to  work  for  some 
six  hours  a  day  at  the  noble  task  of  building  service- 
able and  pleasing  future  homes  for  themselves  and 
their  brothers  ?  By  some  such  plan,  carefully  organized 
in  all  details,  much  of  the  dreary  ugliness  and  disorder 
that  sprawl  over  England,  might  be  removed  in  the 
course  of  a  generation;  our  streets  of  working-class 
homes,  instead  of  straggling  and  huddling  in  long, 
bleak,  .drab,  repulsive  miles  and  acres  of  hideous  blocks 
and  alleys,  might  be  transformed  into  ways  and  shapes 
of  pleasantness,  and  throw  their  homely  modest  charm 
over  the  cleansed  and  redeemed  countryside. 

Again,  the  work  could  probably  be  made  more  at- 
tractive to  the  boys  themselves  than  the  "general"  edu- 
cation which  you  are  forcing  upon  them.  Sir,  this 
great  national  work  is  crying  out  to  be  done,  and  not 
one  pair  of  hands,  not  one  ounce  of  hard  young  muscle 
that  might  be  put  to  it,  can  be  diverted  to  useless  "gen- 
eral" education,  without  an  "economic  injury"  to  the 
country.  Children  love  to  build  houses;  it  is  one  of 
their  earliest,  strongest  instincts.  How  this  instinct 
has  been  thwarted  and  suppressed  and  perverted  by 
Popular  Education,  may  be  seen  by  taking  a  walk  in 
almost  any  town  in  the  kingdom,  and  by  observing  the 
average  style  and  design  of  the  houses  that  are  being 
built.  Why  should  not  this  universal  instinct  and  de- 
light of  childhood  to  build  houses,  be  seized  upon  and 
guided  towards  this  great  result  of  national  comfort 
and  comeliness  ?  The  instinct  is  there,  in  the  vast  ma- 
jority of  your  little  scholars,  waiting  to  be  educated, 


292  Patriotism  and 

and  inspired  to  do  most  fruitful  handiwork.  For  it 
is  useless  that  these  working-class  homes  shall  be  well 
designed,  if  their  actual  builders  are  not  inspired  by  a 
live  faithful  interest  in  what  they  are  doing,  if  they 
do  it  carelessly  and  perfunctorily,  with  wandjering 
brains,  and  untrained  eyes  and  hands, 

I  entreat  you,  sir,  to  consider  whether  some  such 
scheme  as  I  am  here  advocating,  could  not  be  carried 
out  with,  great  educational  advantage  to  the  boys  them- 
selves, and  with  a  certainty  of  bringing  many  direct 
and  indirect  benefits  to  the  nation.  Of  what  avail  is  it 
that  you  pour  your  copious  showers  of  "general  educa- 
tion" upon  our  masses,  when  every  walk  they  take  in 
the  streets  of  our  large  towns  is  in  itself,  a  "general 
education"  in  banal  mechanical  habits  of  thought  and 
living,  and  an  encouragement  to  spend  their  money 
and  leisure  in  tawdry  amusements,  empty  literature, 
and  foolish  delights? 

I  am  sure  you  are  equally  desirous  with  myself  that 
these  million  of  homes  for  our  workers  should  be  built, 
with  dispatch,  and  finished  within  a  reasonably  early 
time ;  that  when  they  are  built,  they  should  not  appear 
as  great  thick  slabs  of  dull,  dead  monumental  mean- 
ness and  monotony,  laid  flat  upon  English  landscapes, 
or  as  swarms  of  perky,  pretentious,  bragging  little 
jerry  villa  "residences";  but  that  they  should  have 
character,  individuality,  solidity,  restfulness,  and  a 
varied  simplicity:  that  they  should  give  evidence  that 
we  have  some  sense  of  national  architecture,  and  some 
craving  for  national  beauty;  that  they  should  offer 
cheerfulness  and  comfort  and  every  household  conven- 
ience to  their  inmates,  and  a  pleasing  spectacle  to  those 
who  view  them  from  very  near  or  from  afar  off. 

I  am  sure  all  these  consummations  will  seem  desir- 


Popular  Education  293 

able  to  you.  And  there  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
your  little  scholars  whose  natural  instinct  and  love  of 
housebuilding,  could  be  played  upon  and  educated  to- 
wards the  attainment  of  these  ends.  Will  you  not  re- 
mit something  of  your  stern  resolve  to  fill  their  heads 
with  information  about  Cicero  and  Miss  Corelli,  and 
other  such  lofty  recondite  matter,  and  educate  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  them,  from  a  quite  early  age  towards 
the  very  fine  art  of  putting  bricks  and  mortar  and  bits 
of  timber  into  pleasing  shapes,  and  useful  dwelling- 
places  for  them  to  inhabit  when  they  shall  become  fa- 
thers and  householders? 

I  have  repeated  and  re-repeated  all  these  arguments 
and  illustrations  ad  nauseam;  I  have  dwelt  upon  them 
with  most  irritating  and  wearisome  reiteration,  for 
which  I  have  no  excuse,  except  my  conviction  that  you 
will  not  pay  the  least  attention  to  what  I  am  saying, 
and  that  therefore  I  am  not  making  any  demand  upon 
rour  time  and  patience.  But  indeed  I  know  of  no  other 
way  of  gaining  some  lodgment  for  truth  in  men's 
minds,  but  that  of  affirming  it  again  and  again,  in  the 
hope  of  rousing  them  at  last,  and  delivering  them  from 
the  stupors  and  catalepsies  of  fixed  popular  opinions 
and  false  beliefs. 

It  is  no  idle  question  I  am  raising,  but  one  that  deep- 
ly concerns  the  permanent  welfare  of  the  nation.  The 
scattered  patches  and  threats  of  coming  social  disaster, 
that  were  no  larger  than  a  man's  hand  when  I  began 
this  letter,  have  gathered  into  great  storm-clouds,  and 
are  spreading  upwards  all  over  our  sky.  Even  those 
of  us  who  have  good  reason  for  our  strong  faith  in 
the  sound  instincts  and  commonsense  of  our  working 
classes,  are  often  constrained  to  ask  ourselves,  "How 
shall  we  avoid  a  social  and  economic  deluge,  a  general 


294  Patriotism  and 

wreckage  of  the  State  ?"  Not  by  continued  strikes  and 
agitation,  not  by  raising  wages,  not  by  shortening  hours 
of  work,  but  only  by  setting  all  our  hands  and  muscles 
and  brains  to  make  those  things  which  are  necessary 
and  useful  to  us  all.  Only  in  this  way  can  comfort 
and  plenty  and  leisure  be  secured  for  our  working 
classes.  The  rate  of  pay  is  of  quite  secondary  import- 
ance. We  are  daily  seeing  that  the  mere  raising  of 
wages  only  makes  everything  dearer  and  scarcer  for 
everybody,  and  tends  to  shatter  the  whole  social  ma- 
chine, as  when  the  gas  workers  of  Odessa  voted  them- 
selves eighty  pounds  a  month. 

If  the  great  body  of  the  working  classes  in  any  com- 
munity are  doing  and  making  necessary,  useful,  and 
beautiful  things  in  right  proportions,  that  community 
will  be  rich  and  comfortable  and  contented,  whatever 
the  rates  of  wages  may  be,  whether  a  shilling  a  day  or 
a  pound.  If  they  are  not  doing  and  making  necessary 
and  useful  and  beautiful  things,  that  community  will 
be  poor  and  miserable  and  discontented,  though  every 
man  in  it  was  paid  fifty  pounds  a  day. 

Again,  if  the  great  body  of  the  working  classes  are 
doing  and  making  necessary  and  useful  and  beautiful 
things,  that  community  will  have  a  corresponding 
amount  of  happy  leisure.  The  amount  of  available 
leisure  in  a  community  is  in  direct  and  exact  proportion 
to  the  amount  of  necessary  and  useful  work  done  in  it. 
Leisure  is  the  payment  of  work.  So  much  wholesome 
work  done,  so  much  wholesome  play  gained.  My  work 
provides  another  man  with  leisure  and  play;  his  work 
provides  me  with  leisure  and  play. 

I  am  speaking  now  of  necessary,  useful,  wholesome, 
and  beautiful  work.  A  great  part  of  the  work  that 
many  of  us  are  doing  is  neither  necessary,  useful, 


Popular  Education  295 

wholesome,  nor  beautiful,  and  is  done  for  people  who 
also  are  doing  work  that  is  neither  necessary,  useful, 
wholesome,  nor  heautiful.  Trace  the  amount  of  "eco- 
nomic injury"  of  that  spectacle  of  imbecile  tomfoolery 
which  in  the  first  year  of  the  war  was  advertised  to  cost 
£15,000.  Trace  its  success  with  the  public  to  the  false 
and  superficial  education  they  had  received.  Trace 
the  growth  and  flourishing  spread  of  all  these  fungus 
parasitic  occupations  to  the  same  cause,  to  a  system 
of  Popular  Education  which  teaches  the  people  what 
they  are  only  remotely  concerned  to  know,  before  it 
teaches  them  what  they  are  imperatively  concerned  to 
do  and  make;  indeed,  in  many  cases,  is  guiding  them 
away  from  what  they  should  make  and  do,  is  forbidding 
them  any  early  practice  of  it,  and  is  complacently  boast- 
ing of  the  mischief  it  is  doing  its  victims  and  to  the 
community. 

If  we  probe  more  deeply  still,  we  can  trace  the  in- 
stability of  our  social  system  to  the  general  absence  of 
any  living  credible  religion  amongst  us;  to  the  absence 
of  an  active  working  faith  that  the  universe  to  its  most 
ultimate  atom,  is  mathematically  set  to  force  us  towards 
right  conduct,  towards  exact  truthfulness  and  honesty 
with  each  other  in  all  our  dealings;  that  towards  these 
issues,  we  are  being  relentlessly  driven  by  the  Eternal, 
by  warnings,  by  checks,  by  disasters,  and  finally,  if 
we  will  pay  no  heed,  by  world-revolutions  and  catas- 
trophes. A  social  structure  is  sound  in  exact  proportion 
to  the  amount  of  honesty  amongst  its  inhabitants. 

But  any  remarks  and  inquiries  on  this  subject  may 
be  more  fittingly  offered,  when  occasion  shall  serve,  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  or  the  Reverend  Dr. 
Clifford.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that,  if  a  dozen  years 
of  Puritanism  could  be  enforced  upon  this  nation,  it 


296  Patriotism  and 

would  be  a  salutary  punishment  for  its  general  lack 
of  sincere,  operative,  religious  belief,  and  its  contempt 
for  the  Power  that  infects  the  world. 

I  began  this  letter  by  saying  that  I  had  no  hope  of 
persuading  you  to  change  the  main  features  and  drift 
of  the  Education  Bill  that  you  were  then  passing,  but 
that  my  suggestions  were  offered  for  your  considera- 
tion when  the  time  should  come  for  moulding  your  next 
measure.  I  have,  therefore,  counted  you  among  my 
non-readers,  or,  at  least,  among  my  non-regarders,  so 
far  as  what  I  have  written  relates  to  the  Act  that  you 
are  now  about  to  administer.  I  am  loth,  however,  to 
think  that  I  have  written  in  vain,  and  I  continue  to 
nurse  my  illusion  that  I  may  be  of  some  service  to  you 
when  you  frame  your  next  Education  Bill.  I  am  sure 
you  will  agree  with  me,  that  what  I  have  said  may  be 
more  opportunely  considerd  in  connexion  with  a  future 
Education  Act,  than  with  the  present  one.  And  if, 
as  a  compliment  to  you  as  a  scholar,  I  may  draw  upon 
my  scanty  store  of  classical  knowledge  for  a  motto 
suitable  to  that  future  Education  Act,  I  would  sug- 
gest, "Ad  vivendum  velut  ad  natandum  is  melior  onere 
liberior."  I  think  Apuleius  must  have  had  your  mil- 
lions of  little  scholars  in  his  mind,  seeing  how  strong 
a  tide  of  hard  necessity  and  adverse  economic  forces 
they  will  have  to  swim  against  in  the  next  generation; 
seeing  also  that,  however  that  tide  may  turn  in  their 
favour,  they  will  assuredly  make  all  the  easier  head- 
way and  advance,  the  less  they  are  burdened  with  use- 
less superficial  knowledge,  and  the  less  they  are  drawn 
away  from  the  main  business  of  their  lives,  and  their 
useful  service  to  the  community. 

Meantime,  sir,  you  have  behind  you  the  full  force 
and  backing  of  popular  and  political  approval.  I  will 


Popular  Education  297 

therefore  await,  and  will  cheerfully  submit  to,  the 
final  arbitrament  of  facts,  being  always  ready  to  change 
my  opinions,  at  their  earliest  dictation.  This  gives 
me  a  pleasant  feeling  of  superiority  to  the  majority  of 
my  fellows,  for  I  observe  that  most  men  are  quite  un- 
able to  change  their  opinions  till  long  after  their  fal- 
lacy and  absurdity  has  been  proved  by  facts.  The  lat- 
est fact,  declared  in  staring  headlines  in  this  evening's 
papers,  is  that  200,000  miners  have  struck  at  a  moment 
when  the  nation  is  perilously  in  need  of  coal,  and  that 
two  or  three  millions  of  workers  are  affected.  They 
seem  to  be  holding  "continuation  classes"  of  their  own 
— in  interstellar  finance  and  economics. 

Perhaps  Mature  is  going  to  bring  in  a  rude,  long 
overdue  Uneducation  Bill  of  her  own,  with  all  sorts  of 
arbitrary,  penal  clauses.  Perhaps  the  Old  Hussy,  hav- 
ing been  busy  for  some  three  centuries  in  showing  us 
the  evils  and  horrors  of  irresponsible  Autocracy,  is  now 
preparing  to  show  us  the  evils  and  horrors  of  irre- 
sponsible Democracy.  For  it  is  by  means  of  these 
balancing  alternations  and  reactions  that  She  gov- 
erns us;  pitchforking  us  first  upon  one  horn  of  a  di- 
lemma and  then  upon  the  other;  correcting  our  fond 
notions  of  self-determination,  until  at  last  She  gets 
us  to  go  the  way  she  would  have  us  go,  which  is  often 
not  at  all  the  way  we  want  to  go — witness  the  forecasts 
and  declared  aims  of  all  the  statesmen  and  political 
thinkers  of  all  the  countries  during  the  last  ten  years. 


CHAPTEE  VII 

(Jan.  1919) 

SUMMING-TJ?  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION  IN  OUE 
THEATRES. 

A  matter  of  national  concern — A  mis-educated  public — Vulgari- 
zation of  our  national  life  by  indiscriminate  Popular  Education 
— Our  masses  badly  trained,  alike  for  useful  productive  work  and 
for  wise  amusement — A  correct  "attitude  of  mind"  towards  "the 
facts  of  life" — A  correct  attitude  of  body  even  more  desirable — 
"Attitude  of  mind"  of  our  popular  audiences — Pressing  invita- 
tion to  Minister  of  Education  to  become  a  playgoer — "Who  has 
been  mis-educating  these  dear,  good  folk?" 

I  COULD  have  been  content  to  rest  my  indictment  of 
our  present  system  of  Popular  Education  upon  the 
condition  of  our  theatres  alone.  This  may  appear  to 
be  a  matter  of  small  account  in  the  great  sum  of  our 
national  life.  Seemingly  it  is  a  matter  of  utter  indif- 
ference, alike  to  our  men  of  letters,  to  the  great  body 
of  average  intelligent  Englishmen,  and  to  the  millions  of 
unthinking  playgoers  themselves.  It  is,  however,  a 
matter  of  some  importance  to  us  who  are  striving, 
against  insurmountable  difficulties,  to  give  England 
a  school  of  modern  drama  and  comedy  worthy  of  a 
great  nation;  and  alongside  it  a  school  of  trained,  in- 
telligent, dignified  Shakespearean  acting  in  the  popu- 
lar theatres  of  London  and  our  great  cities. 

It  is  not  so  small  a  matter  as  it  appears.     It  is  not 
a  matter  to  be  tossed  aside  with  careless  contempt,  that 

29* 


Popular  Education  299 

our  masses  are  wasting  the  greater  part  of  their  evening 
leisure  at  entertainments  that,  with  the  rarest  excep- 
tions, may  be  described  as  rosy  twaddle,  amiable  falsi- 
ties, crude  sensation,  and,  most  popular  of  all,  gaudy 
exhibitions  of  undisguised  licentiousness  and  empty 
imbecile  tomfoolery,  produced  with  the  Lord  Chamber- 
lain's authority  and  passport. 

I  will  not  raise  any  standards  of  super-morality  or 
super-intellectualism.  I  will  not  lay  upon  average  im- 
perfect human  nature,  burdens  too  grevious  to  be 
borne.  Least  of  all,  will  I  offensively  claim  to  be  better 
or  wiser  than  my  neighbours.  I  have  always  humbly 
endeavoured  to  follow  the  sage  counsel  of  Ecclesiastes : 
"Be  not  righteous  overmuch ;  neither  make  thyself  over- 
wise;  why  shouldst  thou  destroy  thyself?"  I  take 
some  satisfaction  in  remembering  that  I  have  scrup- 
ulously and  consistently  obeyed  these  two  golden  rules 
of  the  Preacher. 

Waiving  the  question  of  whether  the  condition  of 
our  theatres  can  be  safely  neglected  by  our  politicians 
and  social  reformers;  granted  that  many  of  the  abuses 
and  futilities  that  I  have  glanced  at,  are  unavoidable; 
granted,  with  all  my  heart,  that  a  supply  of  good  tom- 
foolery, in  its  subordinate  place  and  reasonable  pro- 
portion, is  desirable,  and  even  necessary,  to  ease  and 
cheer  our  people — putting  aside  these  aspects  of  the 
matter  for  the  moment,  what  would  you  say,  sir,  of 
the  staple  of  our  theatrical  amusements  as  a  gauge  and 
indicator  of  the  level  of  Popular  Education,  and  of  the 
shape  and  direction  it  is  giving  to  the  tastes  and  pleas- 
ures of  our  masses  ? 

Perhaps  in  the  months  that  have  passed  since  I  sent 
you  the  earlier  parts  of  this  letter,  you  have  conquered 
the  natural  repugnance  which  most  intelligent  English- 


300  Patriotism  and 

men  feel  against  entering  the  theatres  of  their  native 
land,  or  rather  of  entering  them  in  an  intelligent  frame 
of  mind ;  perhaps  you  have  tasted  of  the  dainty  dishes 
that  the  bulk  of  our  theatre-goers  most  relish  in  our 
most  popular  theatres,  and  have  formed  your  own 
judgment  upon  them. 

Would  you  call  it,  sir,  a  well-educated  public,  that 
for  the  past  twenty  years  has  further  and  further  ban- 
ished Shakespeare  from  our  stage,  and  driven  him  to 
odd  holes  and  corners;  that  regards  him  as  a  bore  and 
an  affliction ;  that  for  the  most  part  cannot  even  un- 
derstand his  lines,  or  recognize  and  comprehend  his 
characters,  much  less  enjoy  his  humour  and  wisdom 
and  philosophy  of  life;  that  for  the  past  twenty  years 
has  also  increasingly  rejected  all  modern  plays  that 
deal  thoughtfully  and  searchingly  with  our  modern  life, 
whether  in  comedy  or  drama ;  that  coughs  and  fidgets  at 
any  scene  or  character  that  demands  a  moment's  exer- 
cise of  thought;  that  rocks  with  imbecile  laughter  at 
senseless  topical  catchwords  and  scarcely-veiled  obscen- 
ity; that  revels  in  the  gradual  corruption  of  the  Eng- 
lish language;  that  has  exalted  the  gagging,  blatant, 
empty-pated  comedian  and  pretty  doll  chorus  girl  to 
the  empty  chairs  of  Kean,  Macready,  Irving,  and  Sid- 
dons;  that  takes  its  chief  evening  delight  in  mafficking 
at  gaudy,  costly,  mindless  spectacles,  whose  very  titles 
stink  with  witless  vulgarity? 

Would  you  call  it  in  any  sense  an  educated  public? 
Would  you  say  that  it  is  in  the  way  to  become  an 
educated  public?  Would  you  not  call  it  a  badly  mis- 
educated  public  ?  If  you  were  a  foreign  visitor,  benev- 
olently disposed  towards  England — say  from  France, 
where  the  modern  drama  is  a  recognized  part  of  the 
national  literature,  where  the  dramatist  is  esteemed 


Popular  Education  301 

according  to  his  rank  as  a  man  of  letters — would  you 
not  join  me,  sir,  in  urging  our  Minister  of  Educa- 
tion to  take  cognizance  of  this  national  disgrace,  and 
to  place  it  in  relation  to  his  whole  system  of  popular 
instruction  ? 

May  I  again  remind  you,  sir,  that  this  condition  of 
our  English  stage  has  developed  with  the  increasing 
spread  of  Popular  Education,  and  seems  likely  to  de- 
velop still  further  on  the  same  lines,  according  to  the 
increasing  amount  of  "general"  education  that  our 
masses  receive  from  your  hands  ? 

No  man  could  he  more  desirous  than  myself  that  our 
workers  should  have  shorter  hours  and  more  abundant 
leisure.  They  do  not  wish  it  for  themselves  more  than 
I  wish  it  for  them.  But  surely  increased  leisure  is  a 
doubtful  boon  if  it  is  unwisely  spent.  If  our  masses  are 
incapable  of  spending  their  leisure  wisely,  it  is  un- 
kindness  to  them  and  a  very  palpable  "economic  in- 
jury" to  the  country,  to  give  them  further  opportuni- 
ties of  wasting  their  time. 

I  will  not  believe  it.  I  prefer  to  think  that  they  are 
being  badly  educated,  alike  for  the  useful  productive 
work  that  alone  can  give  them  shorter  hours,  and  for 
the  wise  amusement  that  alone  can  justify  them  in  de- 
manding more  time  for  play. 

I  do  not  decry  Popular  Education  in  itself.  I  have 
gladly  acknowledged  that  in  many  ways,  it  has  raised, 
and  enlarged,  and  cleansed  the  lives  of  our  lower  classes. 
Every  system  of  Popular  Education  must  necessarily 
have  the  defects  of  its  qualities,  and  a  reverse  side  to 
its  virtues.  But  our  present  system  by  its  want  of 
discrimination  and  specialization;  by  its  blind  worship 
of  advanced  "general"  education  for  every  child,  irre- 
spective of  his  capacity  to  receive  it,  or  to  profit  by  it; 


302  Patriotism  and 

its  neglect  to  train  hands  and  muscles  for  their  proper 
work,  and  brains  for  their  proper  work;  its  fatuous 
discouragement  of  manual  labour  for  healthy  boys  and 
girls,  to  their  own  life-long  injury,  and  the  injury  of 
the  State;  its  curious  conceit  that  by  tying  children's 
hands  behind  their  backs  it  quickens  their  mental  activi- 
ties, and  that  by  depositing  heaps  of  miscellaneous 
knowledge  in  their  brains,  it  swells  their  cerebral 
hemispheres,  and  deepens  the  convolutions  in  the  cor- 
tex; its  vulgarization  of  our  whole  national  life  by 
spreading  a  dead  level  of  spurious  and  superficial  ac- 
complishments— it  is  by  the  operation  of  these  mis- 
chievous whimsies,  that  our  present  system  of  Popular 
Education  has,  after  two  generations,  trained  nearly 
every  worker  in  the  kingdom  into  active  and  ceaseless 
discontent  with  his  work,  and  has  stored  a  powder 
magazine  under  the  foundations  of  civilization  and 
order. 

You  are  reported,  sir,  to  say  that  the  cure  for  all  this 
unrest  "is  an  attitude  of  mind,  and  an  increased  ca- 
pacity for  coming  to  a  judicial  and  judicious  decision 
upon  the  facts  of  life."  Everybody  will  cordially  as- 
sent that  a  changed  attitude  of  mind  is  urgently  needed. 
But  how  that  is  to  be  brought  about  by  increased  "gen- 
eral" education  from  discontented,  half-educated,  mis- 
educated  teachers,  I  see  not.  However,  we  shall  watch 
the  effect  of  your  prescription  with  earnest  prayers 
that  it  may  prove  remedial,  and  that  we  shall  witness 
a  sudden  and  startling  adoption  of  this  most  desirable 
"attitude  of  mind"  and  a  consequent  "increased  capac- 
ity for  coming  to  a  judicial  and  judicious  decision  upon 
the  facts  of  life." 

The  one  prominent  "fact  of  life"  that  everywhere 
stares  us  in  the  face,  is  that  there  is  a  tremendous 


Popular  Education  303 

amount  of  Lard,  dirty,  disagreeable  manual  work  to 
be  done  in  every  house,  in  every  street,  in  every  field 
in  England.  Not  a  single  one  of  us  can  be  at  our  ease, 
until  that  work  is  tackled  and  accomplished.  On  re- 
newed consideration  of  the  whole  problem,  would  you 
not  say,  sir,  that  what  is  required  is  not  so  much  an 
attitude  of  mind  towards  all  this  necessary  manual  la- 
bour, as  an  attitude  of  body? 

I  do  not  perceive  much  likelihood  of  our  masses 
coming  to  a  judicious  and  judicial  decision  upon  this 
all-important  and  most  pressing  "fact  of  life."  All 
the  present  indications  are  that  they  are  every  day  com- 
ing to  more  and  more  injudicious  and  in  judicial  de- 
cisions upon  it.  Might  we  not  now,  with  your  permis- 
sion, cease  to  contemplate  all  this  accumulating  mass 
of  necessary  work  from  lofty  attitudes  and  altitudes  of 
mind,  and  putting  our  bodies  into  correct  postures, 
strip  off  our  coats,  and  tuck  up  our  shirt-sleeves,  and  do 
it  with  all  our  might  ?  For  assuredly,  unless  this  work 
is  done,  and  done  quickly,  we  shall  presently  have  to 
call  in  the  soldier — which  is  what  we  all  wish  to  avoid. 

Meantime,  sir,  if  you  wish  to  get  a  trustworthy  es- 
timate of  the  general  disposition  of  our  public  to  take 
up  a  correct  attitude  of  mind  towards  the  facts  of  life, 
and  to  weigh  them  judiciously  and  judically,  I  again 
beg  you  to  pay  a  round  of  visits  to  our  most  popular 
theatres.  Most  heartily  do  I  sympathize  with  you  in 
your  efforts  to  get  our  populace  to  take  up  this  cor- 
rect "attitude  of  mind"  towards  the  facts  of  life.  For 
thirty-five  years,  I  also,  have  been  fitfully  and  despair- 
ingly persuading  our  public  to  adopt  this  "attitude  of 
mind"  in  the  theatre.  You  will  guess,  then,  with  what 
interest  I  am  watching  your  experiments  on  the  larger 
stage  of  our  national  life.  Like  you,  I  had  an  ingen- 


604:  Patriotism  and 

nous  faith  that  the  spread  of  Popular  Education  would 
automatically  train  our  masses  into  this  salutary  rela- 
tionship to  the  facts  of  life. 

Certainly  our  theory  is  right.  I  will  admit  no 
doubts  of  its  soundness.  After  all  the  time  and  trouble 
and  money  we  have  spent  upon  Popular  Education,  the 
least  it  can  do  is  to  confirm  our  theory  by  results. 
Clearly,  it  must  be  the  facts  of  life  that  are  wrong.  We 
must  adjust  and  dispose  them  in  a  proper  and  respect- 
ful attitude  towards  our  theories.  The  root  of  the 
mischief  is  that  our  present  system  of  Popular  Edu- 
cation tends  largely  to  divert  our  masses  from  facts, 
especially  from  all  unpleasant  facts.  The  primary  fact 
of  all  facts,  discovered  at  a  very  early  period  in  the 
history  of  our  race,  is  the  very  plain  one:  "In  the 
sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread."  I  see  it  mak- 
ing disrespectful  grimaces  at  your  continuation  classes. 

However,  I  hope  that  in  consideration  for  one,  who 
in  the  small  and  limited  sphere  of  the  theatre,  is,  like 
yourself,  trying  to  place  the  public  in  a  correct  atti- 
tude of  mind  towards  facts,  and  also  as  affording  you 
valuable  evidence  of  the  effect  of  Popular  Education  on 
the  masses — for  these  reasons,  I  hope,  you  may  be  in- 
duced at  some  personal  inconvenience,  to  visit  our  huge 
popular  theatres,  and  judge  for  yourself.  You  will 
find  many  things  that  you  can  approve  and  enjoy — if 
you  divest  yourself  of  every  attitude  and  attribute  of 
mind.  You  will  find  a  good-natured,  decently  behaved 
public,  with  much  broad,  kindly,  English  humour,  and 
a  hearty  appreciation  of  such  jests  as  do  not  contain  any 
approach  to  wit.  But  an  educated  public!  Educated?! 
If  you  were  that  benevolent  foreigner,  and  were  taken 
to  a  round  of  the  popular  evening  entertainments  most 
frequented  by  the  masses  of  our  large  towns,  you  would 


Popular  Education  305 

surely  exclaim:  "Where  have  these  people  been  to 
school?  Who  has  been  mis-educating  these  dear  good 
folk  down  to  this  shocking  level  of  dull  vulgarity,  empty 
folly,  and  bad  taste?" 

If  after  paying  such  a  round  of  visits,  and  after 
watching  those  items  of  the  evening's  programme  which 
are  most  relished  by  those  who  have  been  taught  in  our 
national  schools  at  the  expense  of  the  State — if  you  will 
then  declare  that  you  are  satisfied  with  the  results  and 
tendencies  of  our  system  of  Popular  Education,  as  a 
preparation  for  the  duties  of  life,  and  for  the  wise  en- 
joyment of  leisure,  I  will  wholly  submit  myself  to 
your  judgment,  and  will  confess  that  I  do  not  under- 
stand what  Education  is.  It  is  a  word  in  some  foreign 
language  that  has  no  meaning  for  me. 

SUMMING-UP  ON  A  LEAGUE  OF  NATIONS 

It  is  discouraging  to  find  that  the  millennium  is 
again  postponed.  However,  we  are  to  have  a  welcome 
first  instalment  of  it  in  the  League  of  Nations.  The 
Peace  Conference,  with  a  true  instinct  for  essentials, 
gave  it  the  first  consideration,  deeming  that  if  we  could 
only  frame  a  League  of  Nations,  the  finishing  of  the 
war  was  a  quite  secondary  and  negligible  matter. 

It  is  true  that  a  solid  world  peace  seems  to  be  in- 
definitely postponed.  But  we  have  a  League  of  Na- 
tions. It  is  true  that  while  we  have  been  talking,  Ger- 
many has  been  mano3uvring  to  avoid  the  consequences 
of  her  defeat.  But  we  have  put  our  signatures  to  a 
League  of  Nations.  It  is  true  that  all  Europe  is  smoul- 
dering with  revolution  and  the  sparks  of  future  wars. 
But  we  have  framed  a  League  of  Nations.  It  is  true 
that  our  sea  supremacy  is  threatened  and  perhaps  lost. 


306  Patriotism  and 

But  what  need  will  there  be  for  a  British  navy  now 
we  have  a  League  of  Nations? 

It  is  distressing  to  find  that  there  have  been  some 
quibbling  and  friction  about  the  constitution  and  scope 
of  the  League  of  Nations.  But  the  scheme  has  the 
warm  support  of  my  Aunt  Julia,  whose  husband  was 
eaten  by  cannibals,  and  who  therefore  speaks  with  in- 
side knowledge  of  the  subject.  Those  objectors  who 
have  remained  deaf  to  President  Wilson's  powerful  ar- 
guments would,  I  feel  sure,  be  convinced  by  my  Aunt 
Julia.  She  very  pertinently  asks,  why  a  League  of 
Nations  was  not  established  in  the  very  dawn  of  his- 
tory, and  then  there  would  have  been  no  wars  at  all. 
She  is  lending  the  movement  all  the  weight  of  her  moral 
influence,  and  all  the  vigour  of  her  tongue.  If  any  fur- 
ther doubts  or  dissensions  should  arise,  I  hope  the  as- 
sembled statesmen  may  be  persuaded  to  call  my  Aunt 
Julia  to  their  councils.  Her  voluble  optimism  ad- 
mirably qualifies  her  to  deal  with  the  question. 

It  will  gratify  President  Wilson  to  know  that  what- 
ever difficulties  or  disasters  the  League  of  Nations  may 
have  to  encounter,  he  can  always  be  assured  of  the 
active  sympathy  and  co-operation  of  my  Aunt  Julia. 
From  the  time  when  the  question  was  first  bruited, 
she  has  been  enthusiastically  in  its  favour.  So  much 
so,  that  she  has  declared  throughout,  if  we  could  only 
get  a  League  of  Nations,  she  did  not  care  what  its 
conditions  might  be,  or  what  nations  came  into  it,  or 
whether  it  would  work  or  not.  The  main  thing  was 
to  draw  up  some  document,  call  it  a  League  of  Nations, 
and  then  defy  any  nation  to  go  to  war.  I  mention  this 
to  show  how  whole-heartedly  she  has  supported  Presi- 
dent Wilson. 

I  have  been  so  much  impressed  by  Aunt  Julia's  ar- 


I 


Popular  Education  307 

guments,  that  I  have  commissioned  one  of  our  leading 
artists  to  paint  a  great  allegorical  picture,  representing 
President  Wilson's  triumphant  return  from  the  Paris 
Conference,  mounted  on  equum  asinum  with  blinkers 
over  its  eyes  and  ears,  Aunt  Julia  riding  pillion  be- 
hind him,  her  one  arm  tightly  clasping  him  to  signify 
universal  brotherhood,  her  other  arm  waving  a  white 
flag.  When  this  noble  piece  of  symbolism  is  enshrined, 
as  I  confidently  hope  it  will  be,  in  the  Capitol  at  Wash- 
ington or  the  Boston  Museum,  it  will  commemorate,  in 
a  vivid  and  appropriate  way,  the  founding  of  the 
League  of  Nations.  It  will  also  remain  as  a  rebuke 
to  those  Americans  who  are  telling  President  Wilson, 
that  it  was  more  important  to  secure  a  just  and  early 
peace,  than  to  waste  the  precious  weeks  in  arranging 
the  future  of  the  planet  on  paper. 

In  the  meantime  we  have  a  League  of  Nations.  The 
first  thing  that  strikes  us,  is  that  it  isn't  a  League  of 
Nations  at  all.  It  is  a  very  complicated  alliance  be- 
tween the  Allied  powers,  leaving  all  the  real  and  per- 
manent difficulties  of  the  main  question  unsolved,  and 
opening  up  many  new  provocative  questions  for  fu- 
ture settlement.  However,  the  League  of  Nations  is  an 
accomplished  fact,  or  rather  an  accomplished  form  of 
words,  which,  we  hope,  may  control  facts  and  events, 
and  shape  them  to  its  ends.  We  have  marshalled  a 
formidable  array  of  arguments  in  favour  of  governing 
the  world  by  a  Committee.  All  that  events  and  facts 
have  to  do,  is  to  marshal  themselves  to  suit  our  views. 
The  onus  lies  upon  them. 

The  future  peace  of  the  world  rests  upon  the  great 
solid  arch  which  this  war  has  built  across  the  Atlan- 
tic, a  good  understanding  between  America  and  Britain. 
While  that  arch  remains,  with  beloved  France  to  sup- 


308  Patriotism  and 

port  it,  the  peace  of  the  world  is  assured,  so  far  as  it 
exists  between  nations.  The  League  of  Nations  will 
be  successful  if,  and  as  long  as,  that  arch  is  unshaken. 
If  that  arch  should  crack,  we  may  have  to  change  our 
title  to  "A  League  for  setting  the  Nations  at  Logger- 
heads." 

THE  LAST  APPEAL 

The  vast  web  of  our  national  life  is  woven  all  of 
one  piece.  Tattered  and  torn  as  it  is  in  places,  com- 
posed of  divers  ill-assorted  warps  and  wefts,  and  many 
coloured  threads  that  hold  loosely  together,  it  is  yet  one 
indivisible  tissue  and  fabric.  We  are  all  members  one 
of  another,  whether  we  will  it  or  not.  The  destiny  of 
each  one  of  us  is  inseparable  from  the  destiny  of  the 
British  Empire.  The  destiny  of  the  British  Empire  is 
the  destiny  of  all  the  citizens  within  its  bounds.  We 
clearly  perceived  this  during  the  war,  and  therefore 
we  gained  the  victory. 

Straggling  and  unmethodical  as  these  thoughts  may 
seem  to  be,  they  are  all  connected  and  gathered  up  in 
one  issue — Patriotism  or  Internationalism?  Either 
by  our  own  considered  decison,  looking  before  and 
after,  and  choosing  our  way,  or,  carried  along  in  help- 
less, purposeless  confusion  by  the  drift  and  hustle  of 
events,  we  shall  find  ourselves  obliged  to  take  one  road 
or  the  other.  As  our  course  is  steered  towards  Pa- 
triotism or  towards  Internationalism,  so  will  all  our  in- 
ternal and  external  policy  be  conceived,  shaped,  and 
executed;  so  will  all  our  national  aims  and  activities 
be  clarified,  unified,  and  polarized. 

Education,  Reconstruction,  Army  and  Navy  Organi- 
zation, Financial  and  Economic  order  and  stability,  Ag- 


Popular  Education  309 

ricultural  Development,  the  Government  of  Ireland, 
Our  future  rule  in  India,  Colonial  expansion,  Com- 
mercial Tariffs,  Mercantile  Shipping  and  Overseas 
Trade — all  these  and  a  hundred  other  national  pro- 
jects cannot  be  planned  on  any  secure  and  permanent 
basis,  until  we  have  made  up  our  mind  whether  we  will 
take  the  road  of  Patriotism  or  of  Internationalism. 

Chief  of  all,  this  is  a  question  that  concerns  Capital 
and  Labour.  How  can  any  durable  relations  be  estab- 
lished between  them,  what  can  there  bo  but  increasing 
tumult  and  strife,  till  we  know  whether  we  are  travel- 
ling towards  the  one  goal,  or  towards  the  other?  For 
as  we  make  our  way  towards  Patriotism  or  towards 
Internationalism,  so  will  every  interest  of  Capital  and 
Labour  in  the  kingdom  be  affected,  regulated,  and  dis- 
posed. The  question  of  Capital  and  Labour  is  funda- 
mentally the  question  of  Patriotism  or  International- 
ism. All  these  questions  are  one  question.  They  throw 
their  roots  into  the  farthest  corners  of  our  empire,  and 
gather  themselves  up  into  the  one  stem  and  trunk  of 
our  national  life. 

Not  on  that  August  day  four  years  and  a  half  ago, 
when  we  took  our  swift  unfaltering  choice,  flung  all  we 
had  into  the  balance,  and  dared  Eternal  Justice  to  tilt 
the  scales  against  us — not  then  were  we  more  remorse- 
lessly challenged  to  make  an  irrevocable  decision  upon 
which  all  our  future  will  depend. 

If  the  experience  of  these  great  events  does  not  draw 
us  all  together  in  closer  brotherhood,  in  unity  of  clear, 
national  vision  and  unity  of  national  effort,  then  we 
have  fought  and  suffered  in  vain.  We  might  almost  as 
well  have  lost  the  war.  For  what  shall  we  have  gained 
by  escaping  the  ordered  tyranny  and  slavery  of  Ger- 


310  Patriotism  and 

man  militarism,  if  we  are  now  to  be  submitted  to  the 
disordered  tyranny  and  raving  misrule  of  social  anar- 
chy? 

There  stand  the  two  signposts,  the  one  pointing  us  to 
Patriotism,  the  other  to  Internationalism.  Let  us  make 
our  steadfast  deliberate  choice,  or  inevitably  it  will  be 
made  for  us  by  the  irresistible  rush  of  events. 

Whose  voices  are  these  that  hail  us  from  far  and 
near ;  from  ages  long  gone  by,  and  from  our  yesterdays 
of  supernal  endurance  and  valour  in  France;  from 
every  spot  on  earth's  circumference  where  Englishmen 
have  adventured,  and  suffered,  and  fought,  and  con- 
quered, and  ruled  for  England ;  from  every  grave  in  the 
deep,  or  in  sacred  shrines,  or  in  foreign  dust  where 
deathless  Englishmen  are  laid,  and,  being  dead,  do  yet 
speak  to  us  with  most  authentic  and  commanding 
tongues  ? 

These  are  they,  who  from  the  dim  horizons  of  our 
past,  through  all  our  stormy  and  glorious  centuries,  on 
battlefields,  on  the  quarter-deck,  in  council  and  senate 
and  on  the  throne,  in  cloisters  of  learning  and  philoso- 
phy, in  the  halls  of  justice,  in  the  laboratories  of  science, 
in  the  workshops  and  furnaces  of  sweated  thought,  in 
the  chambers  of  imagination  and  the  galleries  of  song — 
these  are  the  statesmen  and  rulers,  and  warriors,  and 
seamen,  and  poets,  and  thinkers,  and  explorers,  and  in- 
ventors, and  merchants,  who  have  created  this  empire, 
and  stone  by  stone,  and  story  by  story,  have  built  up 
and  filled  with  riches  and  treasures  this  home  of  our 
race,  this  clustering  citadel,  this  refuge  for  humanity, 
this  sanctuary  of  ordered  government. 

These  are  your  true  leaders,  O  people  of  England,  if 
you  will  but  follow  them!  These  are  your  faithful 
teachers,  if  you  will  but  learn  from  them!  These  are 


Popular  Education  311 

your  wise  counsellors,  if  you  will  but  give  heed  to 
them!  These  are  your  lawful  rulyrs  who  shall  lead 
you  back  to  peace  and  security  and  wide  prosperity,  if 
you  will  but  obey  them !  Never  has  any  nation  in  the 
past  mustered  such  a  company  of  her  sons  to  span  the 
world  with  the  greatness  and  worth  of  her  achieve- 
ments, and  to  civilize  and  enlarge  the  peoples  by  the 
benignity  of  her  sway.  Nor  will  any  nation  arise  in 
the  future  to  pour  from  her  womb,  a  kindred  breed 
of  famous  men  to  claim  for  their  land  so  sure  and 
proud  a  title  to  enduring  admiration  and  renown,  and 
the  praise  and  honour  of  mankind. 

This  innumerable  cloud  of  witnesses  visit  and  sur- 
round us,  rehearsing  their  deeds,  counting  over  the  sum 
of  their  labours  and  sacrifices  for  us,  and  charging  our 
memories  with  the  magnitude  of  the  price  they  have 
paid  for  our  ransom  from  servitude  and  barbarism. 
They  meet  us  in  council  this  day,  and  here  assembled 
with  us  under  these  two  opposing  signposts,  do  now 
call  upon  us  to  say  which  road  we  will  take — Patriot- 
ism or  Internationalism? 

Name  them  over,  one  by  one,  the  long  marvellous  roll 
of  our  imperishable  dead.  What  one  is  there  amongst 
them  whom  Englishmen  and  all  men  hold  in  honour 
that  does  not,  with  solemn  urgency  and  clairvoyant 
vision  purged  from  all  mortal  obscurities,  call  upon  us 
to  take  the  road  of  Patriotism  ? 

Listen  to  the  two  mightiest  voices  that  have  spoken 
in  our  language.  First,  hear  a  warning  from  him  who 
in  his  own  name  sums  up  England  and  Patriotism. 
In  the  brag  and  froth  of  Jack  Cade,  he  speaks  with  the 
very  mouths  of  them  that  are  to-day  promising  an  In- 
ternational paradise  to  ignorance  and  sloth  and  sedi- 
tion: 


312  Patriotism  and 

"Be  brave  then,  for  your  captain  is  brave,  and  vows  refor- 
mation. There  shall  be  in  England,  seven  halfpenny  loaves  sold 
for  a  penny;  the  three-hooped  pot  shall  have  ten  hoops;  and  I 
will  make  it  felony  to  drink  small  beer;  all  the  realm  shall  be 
in  common;  and  in  Cheapside  shall  my  palfry  go  to  grass;  there 
shall  be  no  more  money;  all  shall  eat  and  drink  of  my  score; 
and  I  will  apparel  them  all  in  one  livery  that  they  may  agree 
like  brothers  and  worship  me,  their  lord." 

"As  for  these  silken-coated  slaves,  I  pass  not; 
It  is  to  you,  good  people,  that  I  speak 
Fellow  kings,  I  tell  you  that  Lord  Say  hath  gelded 
the  commonwealth." 

"Now  show  yourselves  men;  'tis  for  liberty. 
We  will  not  leave  one  lord,  one  gentleman, 
Spare  none  but  such  as  go  in  clouted  shoon." 

"Then  are  we  in  order,  when  most  we  are  most  out  of  order. 
Come,  march  forward!  Let's  go  fight,  but  first  set  London 
Bridge  on  fire,  and  if  you  can,  burn  down  the  Tower  too.  Go 
some  and  pull  down  the  Savoy,  others  to  the  inns  of  court.  Down 
with  them  all.  Away!  Burn  all  the  records  of  the  realm:  my 
mouth  shall  be  the  parliament  of  England." 

"And  henceforth  all  things  shall  be  in  common." 

"The  proudest  peer  in  the  realm  shall  not  wear  a  head  on  his 
shoulders  unless  he  pays  me  tribute;  there  shall  not  a  maid  be 
married,  but  she  shall  pay  to  me  her  maidenhead  ere  they  have 
it;  men  shall  hold  of  me  in  capite;  and  we  charge  and  com- 
mand that  their  wives  be  as  free  as  heart  can  wish." 

"Soldiers,  defer  the  spoil  of  the  city  until  night!  Up  Fish 
Street!  Down  Saint  Magnus  Corner!  Kill  and  knock  down! 
Throw  them  into  the  Thames!" 

It  is  the  very  tune  and  creed  of  advancing  Inter- 
nationalism. We  are  hearing  it  daily,  muttered  or 
blatant,  in  all  the  cities  of  Europe.  Internationalists 
will  doubtless  think  it  advisable  to  burn  every  copy  of 
Shakespeare;  for  until  he  is  abolished,  his  sovereign 
instinct  for  what  is  fundamental  and  permanent  in 
human  nature,  pours  its  fiercest,  wisest  mockery  upon 
their  doctrines. 


Popular  Education  313 

Next,  give  heed  to  the  second  of  our  sons  of  light, 
whose  voice  was  ever  raised  for  liberty  of  thought  and 
spiritual  enfranchisement.  Hear  once  more  the  great 
prophecy  that  England  has  so  often  justified  since  he 
spoke  it.  Do  not  our  hearts  burn  within  us,  and  our 
eyes  gather  with  tears,  when  remembering  what  En- 
land  has  done  in  these  last  years,  we  take  it  again  upon 
our  lips,  and  declare  with  one  voice  that  it  shall  yet  re- 
ceive its  supreme  fulfilment  by  this  people? 

Methinks  I  see  in  my  mind  a  noble  and  puissant  nation,  rous- 
ing herself  like  a  strong  man  after  sleep,  and  shaking  her  in- 
vincible locks;  methinks  I  see  her  as  an  eagle  renewing  her 
mighty  youth,  and  kindling  her  undazzled  eyes  at  the  full  mid- 
day beam;  purging  and  unsealing  her  long-abused  sight  at  the 
fountain  itself  of  heavenly  radiance;  while  the  whole  noise  of 
timorous  and  nocking  birds,  with  those  also  that  love  the  twi- 
light, flutter  about,  amazed  at  what  she  means  and  in  their  en- 
vious gabble  would  prognosticate  a  year  of  sects  and  schisms. 

Choose,  England! 

I  lay  down  my  pen  at  an  hour  when  no  man  can 
discern  what  baffling  and  formidable  shape  the  emerg- 
ent future  may  take,  or  in  what  new  perplexities  and 
perils  our  country  may  be  involved.  At  such  a  time, 
our  notions  and  opinions  are  but  as  dead  leaves  blown 
frustrate  in  a  destroying  hurricane  of  events  that  we 
can  neither  escape  nor  control.  We  can  but  lay  hold  of 
the  great  changeless  elementary  rules  of  life  and  con- 
duct, whereby  men  and  nations  have  stayed  and  es- 
tablished themselves  in  the  past.  To  those  great 
changeless  elementary  rules  of  life  and  conduct,  which 
we  did  not  fashion,  which  we  cannot  annul,  upon 
which  all  civilization  and  ordered  human  society  must 
be  founded — to  these  great  primary  absolute  precepts 
and  laws,  I  have  tried  to  appeal  throughout  this  letter, 


314  Patriotism  and  Education 

and  have  rested  my  arguments  upon  their  eternal  valid- 
ity. 

If,  sir,  in  those  parts  of  my  letter  which  treat  of 
Popular  Education  and  its  ultimate  effects  upon  the 
national  welfare,  I  have  shown  some  want  of  respect 
and  urhanity,  I  ask  your  pardon.  I  am  sure  you  will 
count  this  a  small  matter  in  comparison  with  the  im- 
portance of  the  issues  I  have  raised. 

I  am,  Sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 
HEKRY  ARTHUR  JONES. 

To  THE  RIGHT  HONBLE.  H.  A.  L.  FISHEB, 
President  of  the  Board  of  Education. 


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